For Immediate Release

Contact:  Andrew Alt, Publicist (616) 949-2247

e-mail:  andrewa@showspan.com

Mike Wilbraham, Show Producer 

Carolyn P. Alt, Show Manager

(616) 447-2860 // www.GRHomeShow.com

30^th Annual West Michigan Home and Garden Show

An annual tradition continues as the 2009 West Michigan Home and Garden Show fills DeVos Place with everything you’ve come to expect from this incredible show!  You’ll find hundreds of products and services, dozens of free seminars and demonstrations, contests and attractions, and, of course, plenty of gorgeous indoor gardens to delight your eyes and your nose.  With over 350 exhibitors filling the exhibition halls and the Grand Gallery, everything you need for your home, inside and outside, is here!

Here’s a guide to features and highlights that will help you get the most out of this year’s Show:

Pancake Breakfast (9am till 11am)  Get fueled up for your busy day with all-you-can-eat pancakes, sausage, coffee, and orange drink for $5  (Please note that main exhibit halls open at 10am)

John Ball Zoo Animals (10am til 3pm)  get close to some cool animals and learn all about them from JBZ experts!

Brownie “Sand Art” (10:30 till 11:15am) Kids create an artful jar filled with all the dry ingredients to bake up a batch of brownies at home!

Birds of Prey Show (10:30am and 1:30pm) live owls, hawks, and more with Birdman Joe Roger

Build-A-Bug Workshop (11:15am till noon) with J Schwanke, kids build fun and crazy bugs for their very own

Home Depot Kids’ Workshops (starts at noon), first 500 kids can participate in a building or painting project

Gardening With Kids Seminar (Noon) with Meijer Gardens’ Ian Warnock

Make a Butterfly (2pm – 3pm) with members of District IV of the Michigan Garden Clubs

Plant a Flower, Scavenger Hunt and more with the MSU Junior Master Gardeners

Characters and Mascots including Crash (Whitecaps), Flick (Celebration Cinemas), and more!

Grand Rapids Youth Symphony performances in the Grand Gallery

GRFD Fire Safety House, described below

• Stephanie Cohen - On Friday, join The Perennial Diva for her keynote seminar Passionate About Perennials on the Garden Stage.  An adjunct professor of horticulture at Temple University and former director of the school’s Landscape Arboretum, Stephanie is an award-winning speaker, writer, designer, and teacher.  A book-signing will follow her seminar.
• AGRLP Feature Garden:  Backyard of Dreams - He will build it, you will come!  This year, Feature Garden designer Mike Hoeksema of Wabeke Lawn Service creates a spectacular and fun-filled backyard for the whole family.  Come marvel at the custom tree house perched in a real maple, enjoy the tranquility of the pond and waterfall, and be sure to stop in to the rustic barn for a fun surprise!  And, of course, enjoy the colors and perfumes of Spring, with thousands of blooming flowers, live trees, and shrubs.  As always, this central part of the Show is created by members of the Association of Grand Rapids Landscape Professionals with help from students in Kent Career & Technical Center’s Agriscience Program.  
• Twelve Indoor Gardens   Spring is definitely in the air this weekend at DeVos Place!  In addition to the gorgeous central garden, you’ll find eleven more magnificent indoor landscapes scattered throughout the show.  Our area’s premier landscapers are here to show off their best work, and the results will wow you.  Whether you have acres or just a window box to work with for your own landscaping, you’re sure to pick up plenty of ideas to take home.  Come get inspired!
• Hands-On/Do-It-Yourself Stage - Stop by our first-ever brand new seminar stage for a chance to “do it yourself” right here at the show!
• Garden Stage - The Garden Stage is thriving with everything you want to know about lawns, flowers, trees, shrubs, landscaping, and more!   Join Meijer Gardens staff members,  WZZM Chief Meteorologist George Lessens, Flowerland’s Rick Vuyst, The Grand Rapids Press columnist Rebecca Finneran, and a host of other local authorities.  It’s all here, at the Garden Stage! 
• Home Stage - Everyone’s favorite florist is back!  Stop by the Home Stage to see  J Schwanke and have Fun With Flowers and J!    DTE’s Bob Fegan returns with important information and practical tips everyone can use, with Keeping Your Home Energy Efficient.  Plus, seminars on getting the biggest Bang For Your Buck Renovations and find out how to recycle almost anything.
• Standard Kitchens Cooking Stage - Our ever-popular live cooking demonstrations continue in 2009 with Chef Angus Campbell from GRCC’s Secchia Institute for Culinary Education, preparing Soups From Around the World.   You’ll learn to create the classic French Onion Gratinee, a rich German Brie and Mushroom Cream, a delightful Italian Wedding Soup, and America’s favorite, a New England Clam Chowder. 
• Kent Career Technical Center Agriscience Program - In addition to assisting in construction of the Show’s spectacular central garden, the hard-working students of KCTC get to showcase their talents with a fantastic garden space that greets visitors in the Grand Gallery.  Come appreciate the impressive knowledge and remarkable skills used to seamlessly blend the program’s three divisions – greenhouse operations, landscaping, and floral design –  into a single indoor landscape.    Browse the beautiful plants for sale, all grown by students.  Sale proceeds go back into the agriscience program to buy supplies and equipment for next year.
• The GRFD Fire Safety House - While it is mainly for teaching critical safety techniques to children, the Fire Safety House is a must-visit display for adults, too.  We’re pleased to once again have at the Show a 29' trailer the Grand Rapids Fire Department uses throughout the area to teach children about fire hazards and prevention, as well as survival strategies.  Stop by with your children or grandchildren and visit this important part of the Show.
• Flower Show - The theme of this year’s show is “A Tropical Paradise.”  Come enjoy stunning entries in the horticulture and design competitions, located at the back of the Grand Gallery.  Sponsored by District IV of the Michigan Garden Clubs.
• Prizes and Giveaways - Finally, don’t miss your chance to win terrific prizes!  Enter for a chance to win the Take the Home and Garden Show Home package, valued at over $10,000.  You could also get one of over 300 $25 gift certificates, good at the member garden centers of MyFavoriteGardenShops.com.

Discounted tickets are available at all Home Depot locations.  Discount weekday adult admission coupons are available online at www.GRHomeShow.com and at participating Wendy's.

Dates & Times                                                                                      Admission

Thursday, March 5                     3 pm - 9:30pm                                       Adults:  $9.00

Friday, March 6                         Noon - 9:30pm                                       Children (6-14): $4.00

Saturday, March 7                     10 am - 9:30pm                                     5 & Under: Free

Sunday, March 8                       11 am - 6pm

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