PNE prize home has come a long way
Hundreds streamed through dreamy abode worth $1.6 million at fairgrounds Wednesday
In Vancouver, where home ownership can seem like a fairy tale, a chance to win a fully loaded dream home was too good to pass up.
“Wow, we could win that?” asked seven-year-old Mia Johnson with wonder, pulling her mom’s hand to go into the two-storey West Coast modern home.
“Yes, we could,” said mom Jen Johnson, who then tempered her daughter’s hopes with a dash of realism. “Many people could win. Someone’s gotta.”
The Fair at the PNE had just been open an hour Wednesday and close to 700 people had already streamed through the open door.
Maiya Callister was one young PNE worker giving tours of the prize home. Her domain was the deck, where she got to be outdoors and tell visitors about the patio set, the shiny barbecue and six-person hot tub.
“I like talking about all the furnishings,” she said. “Most people don’t know they come with the house.”
Going through the house tour were Melanie Lin and her boyfriend Phil Man. They live in a small one-bedroom condo in Vancouver and “we wanted to check this out and dream a little of living in a big house,” said Lin, who marvelled over the generous storage in the kitchen, the abundant natural light, and the “laundry room the size of our living room.”
“But think of all the cleaning we’ll have to do,” joked Man as they trooped upstairs, past the glassedin wine cellar. Any hesitation Man might have about cleaning the 3,100-square foot home evaporated when he saw the bar and pool table.
The PNE’s 83rd prize home, designed and built by Freeport Industries, is much different than the one offered in 1934, when mechanic Leonard Frewin cashed a 25-cent ticket and won the first prize home — an 800-square-foot bunga- low worth $5,000 that boasted of a “state-of-the-art” electric stove.
This latest home, with its gourmet kitchen, has a nice stove, but also a built-in espresso machine in the master bedroom, electric fireplaces, and LED light fixtures. It’s worth about $1.6 million.
Once won, it will be relocated to Naramata on a perch overlooking Okanagan Lake.
Pat Flett can already imagine the sweeping vista. Her favourite part of the house is the view, as well as the theatre room equipped with a 92-inch TV screen because their grandkids would love it.
Flett said if they win, they’ll likely keep the place.
“It would be nice as a family getaway,” she said. “But we’ll have to rent it out, too, figure out how to make it make money.”
Prize home tickets sell for two for $25, six for $50 and 15 for $100. They’re available at the PNE, at pneprizehome.ca or at 604-2523688 or toll-free at 1-877-946-4663.