The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
IDEAS TO BUILD UPON
Great Big Home + Garden Show wraps up another successful run at I-X Center
This year’s Great Big Home + Garden Show offered plenty of opportunities for Northeast Ohio residents to come up with ideas on how to improve the inside or outside of where they live.
The 2020 edition of the 10day event, which concluded on Feb. 9 at the I-X Center in Cleveland, featured 650 exhibitors, specializing in products or services such as windows; roofing; painting; heating, ventilation and air conditioning; custom-designed sliding shelves; and concrete leveling.
Rankin Lawn Care of Hartville was one of the businesses making its first-ever appearance at the annual event.
“We’re trying to branch off into the Cleveland area, so we are just doing everything in our power to come up here,” said Zachary McMullen, a sales representative for the lawn treatment and restoration business. “We’re looking to open up a second location here within the next couple of
years, so we figured the best way to get our name out is to exhibit up at the (Great Big Home + Garden Show).”
McMullen said Rankin received a “very positive” response from show visitors.
“We’ve gotten a lot of good, solid leads, and we’ve
“It was very successful, as always. It’s such an event that people like to come out no matter what, to get away from the coldness and the winter. We’ve had nothing but positive comments and praises about the show..” — Show Manager Rosanna Hrabnicky
even run into customers of ours,” he said. “So it just helps us out a lot.”
Fertilization and weed control are the two primary services offered by Rankin Lawn Care, which was established in 1991.
Another exhibitor that hoped to make a splash at this year’s Great Big Home + Garden Show was Cleveland Aqua Pros. The company specializes in swimming pool design and construction, maintenance and repairs.
Cleveland Aqua Pros has been an exhibitor at the show for the past seven or eight years, said company co-owner Jim Petkewitz.
“Here, (potential customers) can kind of see what we do,” he said. “We can run through some of the literature and some of the things and options that we give, and then we can set up appointments, get out to their houses and meet with them and see what their dreams are for their back yards.”
Cleveland Aqua Pros has offices in Parma and Fairview Park, and a manufacturing site in North Ridgeville, where the company produces pool and spa covers, Petkewitz said.
Along with many booths staffed by contractors offering a plethora of products and services for residential structures and properties, this year’s show also featured “idea homes” that focused on smaller-space living and energy efficiency. In addition, the event’s Garden Showcase highlighted 12 exhibits based on the theme of “One Tank Trip,” the longrunning series of travel segments hosted by reporter Neil Zurcher of WJW-TV 8.
Organizers of the Great Big Home + Garden Show had projected that 120,000 people would visit the event over its 10-day run.
“It was very successful, as always,” Show Manager Rosanna Hrabnicky said on Feb. 9.
“It’s such an event that people like to come out no matter what, to get away from the coldness and the winter. We’ve had nothing but positive comments and praises about the show.”