Advice about home organization, sustainable gardening and real estate investing on offer at BC Place
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If you need another reason to check out this year’s BC Home + Garden Show—besides home-improvement tips, HGTV stars and cooking demos—here it is: pizza.
“Something new and cool that we’re doing this year is a pizza pop-up shop on the concourse level,” show manager Amber Beaton said.
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“Basically, we’re going to be [bringing] out a bunch of pizza ovens and Canada’s top pizza chef, Giuseppe Cortinovis, will be preparing samples for everybody.”
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Last year’s show welcomed just under 30,000 attendees, and this year organizers expect something in the range of 35,000. More than 300 exhibitors have been booked.
“Compared to my first year, I feel like we’ve just found our legs and we’re really getting a grip on some cool features for the show,” said Beaton, now in her second year as manager. “When I first came back, it was right after COVID, so a lot was up in the air. It’s all coming into place now.”
First-time guests include Scott McGillivray, host of HGTV Canada’s Income Property, Renovation Resort, and Scott’s Vacation House Rules, among others.
“We’ve been hearing from our attendees that he is somebody that they’d like to see, and we’ve finally been able to make it happen,” Beaton said.
McGillivray said he’ll talk about investing in real estate “and what specifically people in the area can do to take advantage of the opportunities that are here.”
“Vancouver has been a hotbed of rules and regulations and a lot of pressure on that market,” he said. “We’ve seen crazy amounts of appreciation and we’ve seen a lot of government interference with that market. It’s been one of the more profitable, but one of the more difficult markets to navigate and it’s become more and more challenging for new investors to penetrate.”
West Coast Homes
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He’ll share his tips on the Sleep Country Main Stage, presented by HGTV Canada and The Vancouver Sun. Other mainstage guests include Megan Golightly, Adam Weir and Bruno Feldeisen.
A home clutter and organizing expert, Golightly will encourage divesting, not investing.
“People think it’s all about organizing,” said the Calgary-based influencer. “But for me to stand up there and talk about the perfect containers and matching baskets would be to do you a disservice. You’d buy all these things, then you wouldn’t know what to do with them because you hadn’t dealt with the main issue, which is the stuff—things like a wedding dress or pictures or the cabinet you don’t like but that you inherited from your aunt.”
Weir, another HGTV veteran, will deliver a presentation called Behind the Scenes of Your Renovations.
“He’s an entertainer for sure, and a big draw as well,” Beaton said. “People hear him from afar and they’re drawn to see what he’s doing on stage. Last year, he did some magic tricks. I’m sure we can expect to see some of those again. He quite often goes off the cuff and gets a lot of audience involvement with his presentations.”
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On the builder side, guests include Graeme Huguet of Vancouver-based My House Design/Build Team, the recipient of multiple HAVAN Awards.
“He has been involved in in our shows for many years,” Beaton said. “He’s always able to draw a lot of people over to his presentation. He keeps them new and fresh and clean and really personable. And he answers a lot of audience questions, which I think our visitors really appreciate.”
Other highlights include a recreational living presentation with Hewing Haus and Pura Vida. The former will exhibit one of its 700-square-foot units, a two-bedroom, one-bathroom prefab that visitors can explore. Pura Vida Vans will demonstrate the Custom Clips system it uses to customize vans into campers.
For the gardeners in the house, The Vancouver Sun’s Garden Stage will host several of the Lower Mainland’s greenest thumbs, including bestselling author Brian Minter, Vancouver Master Gardeners, Erin Berkyto of The Knotty Garden, and representatives from Art’s Nursery in Surrey.
“There are going to be some interactive presentations and some sustainable gardening tips,” Beaton said. “We have some indoor planting happening as well with West Coast Gardens who are going to show how to grow some tropical plants.”
In addition, expect “lots of new outdoor spaces designed by local landscapers. So right up the centre of the show, there’s going to be a ton of features for showgoers to walk through.”
And Great Canadian Baking judge Bruno Feldeisen will return to the Food Network Stage.
“Everybody loves to see him,” Beaton said. “He always inspires a lot of audience involvement.”
Taking a break from the ovens on the concourse level, pizza maestro Cortinovis will also give a cooking demonstration on the stage.
BC Home + Garden Show 2024
When: Feb. 8 to 11
Where: BC Place Stadium
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