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Now in its third year, the Suburban Indy Home & Outdoor Living Fall Show again promises the area’s best experts in landscaping, home improvement and building projects.
The 2019 show also boasts features that organizers have added to cater to customer interests as the event has evolved.
The Home & Outdoor Living Fall Show will return to Westfield’s Grand Park Sept. 20-22. Along with approximately 200 exhibitors will be fan favorites like Dr. Lori’s antiques appraisals, presented at 1 and 4 p.m. on Sept. 20 and Sept. 21. She will offer one free appraisal per person, per show.
New at this year’s event will be fall festival-like outdoor features, including a beer garden and games — weather permitting — as well as pet adoptions with the Humane Society for Hamilton County. Suburban Indy Shows will donate 10% of all ticket revenue to the Humane Society.
Also making its debut at the show will be a visit on Kids’ Day, Sept. 22, from DinoROAR. This interactive educational feature showcases fossils like the ones from Fossilicious.com, dinosaur puppets and animatronics, and opportunities for pictures with a Tyrannosaurus rex. Additionally, activities with princesses and superheroes will return to this year’s Kids’ Day.
A restaurant and bar overlook the exhibit area, which will feature displays of indoor and outdoor living spaces. A kitchen, wine cellar and fire feature will be among the displays aimed at helping customers extend their outdoor living season.
Donell Heberer Walton coordinates fall and spring home and outdoor living events as the owner of Suburban Indy Shows. Although the shows are in their first few years, she’s been organizing similar events for two decades.
This fall’s show, she says, represents what she’s learned throughout her career, including new ideas gleaned specifically from her experience with the Grand Park event.
“I feel like it’s all coming together,” says Walton, a Central Indiana resident for more than 30 years
Among the lessons Walton has learned along the way, she says, is that show visitors don’t want to deal with pushy salespeople. So Suburban Indy Shows prides itself on hosting events that are “hassle-free.”
The Home & Outdoor Living Fall Show also addresses customers’ desire to access plenty of locally based vendors. The show even features a Handmade Marketplace devoted to smaller, mom-and-pop businesses selling handcrafted items.
Walton likens the show’s exhibitors to her friends and family, and their number has doubled since the show began in 2017. But she says she wants to focus on “quality, not quantity,” offering an event where visitors can see all the exhibits in just a few hours.
“Quality exhibitors are what people are looking for,” Walton says. “We want to do repeat business, people who come back every fall and spring to get new ideas. Every show is new and different.”
Walton describes the Suburban Indy Shows fall event as “upscale.” But she also says the projects featured will be those that most people could take on for their own homes.
“We have a more realistic view, and I think that’s important,” she says. “Our spaces show something that would fit in anyone’s backyard. It’s not overwhelming.”
The goal, Walton says, is to combine a customer-friendly approach with a lineup of activities that offers something for everyone. She cites the Home & Outdoor Living Fall Show as perfect for families, couples or a girls night out.
“I produced the Christmas show at the State Fairgrounds, and there were people who had been coming there for 60 years,” Walton says. “We’re hoping to create that on the northside, that feeling of tradition.”
Parking is free. Tickets are $10 at the door or $5 if purchased online. Children 12 and under are free. Planning to take part in a Dr. Lori show? Arrive early to help ensure that you get your free appraisal
The Suburban Indy Home & Outdoor Living Fall Show will be Sept. 20-22 at the Grand Park Events Center, 19000 Grand Park Blvd. in Westfield. Hours are 10 a.m.- 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 10 a.m.- 5 p.m. on Sunday.
For more details about the event’s vendors, activities, parking, schedule and tickets, visit suburbanindyshows.com.