Home show collaborates with Rebuilding Together OKC

The Oklahoma City Home + Garden Show is working with Rebuilding Together OKC to show event guests how they can renovate their homes and neighborhoods while taking care of some of the community’s most vulnerable people.

The nonprofit organization helps low-income homeowners in the metro area make free, critical house repairs and updates such as patching leaky roofs, fixing broken stairs and installing ramps and grab bars.

The Oklahoma City Home + Garden Show is in the Centennial Building, Cox Pavilion and the Bennett Events Center at State Fair Park. It continues from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday.

Tickets are $12 for adults at the box office or $10 online through www. oklahomacityhomeshow. com. Children 12 and under get in free. Hero Day on Sunday will allow all active and retired military, police and firefighters to get in free with valid service identification.

“The Home and Garden Show is the perfect place to find all your home and outdoor renovation options in one place, including how to improve your home’s most critical functions,” said RaeAnn Saunders, show manager. “Rebuilding Together OKC used home improvement to connect neighbors and allow homeowners to live independently for as long as possible, and we want visitors to the show to learn how they can help.”

Show guests will get a chance to learn more about Rebuilding Together OKC, as well as see their impact through interactive presentations, fun projects for children and displays of derby cars used in the annual Construction Derby fundraising event. Representatives will be on hand to answer any questions and provide more information about the organization and how to volunteer or donate.

Rebuilding Together OKC also will be one of several presenters on the Lifestyle Stage throughout the weekend. Experts in home safety and renovation will discuss how to properly maintain a home to make it safe, warm and dry.

“Years of deferred home maintenance can lead to negative impacts on a homeowner’s health and can leave them feeling

Years of deferred home maintenance can lead to negative impacts on a homeowner’s health and can leave them feeling unsafe and vulnerable. When that happens, the whole neighborhood can suffer. We want to show how simple, quick home repairs can make a big difference in the lives of their families, friends and neighbors.”

unsafe and vulnerable. When that happens, the whole neighborhood can suffer,” said Mike Edmison, executive director of Rebuilding Together OKC. “We want to show how simple, quick home repairs can make a big difference in the lives of their families, friends and neighbors.”

Other show highlights

• Jason Cameron, host of DIY Network’s “Man Caves” and “Desperate Landscapes,” will show how he transforms barren landscapes into picturesque front lawns.

• Joel Karsten, pioneer of straw bale gardening, will demonstrate and offer tips on his technique.

• Matt Fox, host of HGTV’s “Room by Room,” will emceeing the Lifestyle stage for the entire show and use basic supplies from home improvement stores to demonstrate great weekend projects.

• Edible Landscaping: Have your Lawn and Eat It Too. Julia Laughlin, with items from Prairie Earth Gardens, has created an herb-vegetable garden to support farmto-table cooking and eating, in the west end entry of the Cox Pavilion.

• Tiny Home Village, tiny homes from across the country creating a tiny village in the Bennett Event Center.

• Rebuilding Together OKC will showcase its work in rebuilding homes and neighborhoods and transforming lives in Oklahoma City.

• Made in Oklahoma: A dozen Oklahoma companies for home and garden products will be featured.

• Home Grown with Tony’s Tree Plantation: 2,200 square feet of Oklahoma-specific landscaping ideas from Tony’s Tree Plantation.