30-foot mobile flooring showroom at weekend's home & garden show

A 30-foot mobile showroom containing dozens of flooring ideas was being pulled inside the Exhibition Hall at the Du Quoin State Fairgrounds today as setup began for this weekend's 5th annual Du Quoin Chamber of Commerce Home & Garden Show.

The show will be held Saturday and Sunday, April 12 and 13 in the Du Quoin Fairgrounds Exhibition Hall. The show will be from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday The hall was open on Thursday by appointment for vendors with large equipment to set up and from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. today for all vendors to set up. Tear down is after the show at 4 p.m. on Sunday.

Admission is only $1 for adults.

Show chairman Chuck Novak and chamber director Stacy Hirsch said that by Thursday over 50 vendors and 90 booth spaces had been booked for the show.

The Du Quoin Chamber of Commerce is counting on a warmer show moved from February to April and the return of the Du Quoin Garden Club plant sale to send the two-day attendance total to over 1,000 for the first time in the show's history.

Everything is in place for that to happen and here's why:

A $300 cash door prize that you can spend any where you want, any how you want. It is not tied to one vendor or one lifestyle.

There will be both familiar and new vendors at the show, which this year welcomes the E.A. Knight Construction Co. of Carterville, Act on Energy, an Ameren-sponsored energy conservation program and vendors like Kate's Cutlery and Jewelry & Totes,

There is a new company called Leaf Filter and the SIC Radon Awareness.

Executive chamber director Hirsch assures visitors to this, the fifth show, you won't disappointed.

The show will give you hundreds of possibilities for your home and yard. There will be the $300 door prize and several vendor prizes.

This show mirrors the energy of this chamber, which hasn't slowed down since Du Quoin School Superintendent Gary Kelly began his work as president this year.