Home and Garden show blooms

COEUR d’ALENE — The skies cleared Friday, just in time for the North Idaho Building Contractors Association’s 50th annual Home and Garden show at the Kootenai County Fairgrounds.

Guests crowded the fairgrounds, exploring dozens of exhibits and chatting with experts about building, landscaping, interior design, pet products and many more goods and services.

Among them was Craig Brockus of Hayden, who was in search of landscaping inspiration. It was a perfect way to spend a balmy day on the cusp of spring.

“It gets you out of the house,” Brockus said with a smile.

Grace Cooper and Sean Buck, newlyweds from Coeur d’Alene, said they were looking for ideas for a future home.

“We eventually want to build,” Cooper said.

She said she learned about the Home and Garden Show at a NIBCA general membership meeting and wanted to see it for herself.

The show was awesome, Cooper said, and so is the organization behind it.

“I love what (NIBCA is) doing, especially with Women in Building,” she said.

The NIBCA Professional Women in Building Council is a nonprofit organization that supports NIBCA in promoting the building industry.

Nearby, Hayden resident Gary Bolster examined outdoor sheds. He and his wife are planning to build a house and they have some preliminary ideas.

“We want to have a greenhouse,” he said.

The pair don’t plan to hire a general contractor.

That’s part of what led them to the Home and Garden Show, where they had the chance to speak to a number of local vendors and tradespeople.

“That way, I can choose who I want,” Bolster said.

The Home and Garden Show continues today at the Kootenai County Fairgrounds from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Tickets are $6 online or $7 at the door. Save $1 with the donation of a non-perishable food item. Kids 10 and younger get in free.