By: Ali Elizabeth Turner
Save the date! Several Athens area firms and private individuals are banding together to form a “boutique” approach to the traditional spring “home and garden show” venue, and you are invited to participate as well as attend. Cotton Row Companies and Athens Now, along with vendors of all kinds will be hosting the event to be held March 27 and 28 at the Cotton Row warehouse located at 1620 Lindsay Lane in Athens, just south of First National Bank. The hours will be 6-9 p.m. on Friday, and 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. on Saturday.
The idea of a “curated” event is the brainchild of Zach Walker of Cotton Row Companies. “Every city in our area has one (meaning some kind of spring home design exposition) and we want ours to have a smaller, more community feel while bringing in excellent people who can show you how to design or improve your indoor and outdoor living space, as well as enjoy it,” Zach told me.
The weekend is designed to bring the community together in creativity, and to see what’s possible, from do-it-yourself projects to high-end custom opportunities. It also has as part of its mission the idea of collaboration. The tickets are going to be $10 for individuals or a family of any size; but if you bring cans of food, the cost will be $3, and food will be donated to Limestone County Churches Involved (LCCI) to help with hunger in our area.
Why is this important to do in the spring of 2020? In a word, if local vendors who themselves live, work, worship, and play here support and invest in one of the fastest growing counties in the United States of America and go on to “get to know their neighbors, new and old,” then it serves to be a way to help us grow well at a grassroots level. People are excited as well as nervous about how fast we are growing, and if we come together for a weekend market with a greater purpose, then we might just grow a stronger community that manages to keep its charm. It’s about investing in local businesses, having local businesses investing in the event as well as the community, and making our amazing Athens even more so.
What will the 2020 Athens Community Home Design Show look like? Cotton Row Warehouse is going to store their furniture inventory for the weekend to make room for the booths. While the warehouse has 7,000 sq feet, you need to claim your indoor slot soon. Outdoors there will be some of the larger displays, food trucks, a bouncy castle, things for the kids to do, and more.
While Cotton Row Companies and Athens Now are the presenting sponsors, there are other sponsorship opportunities that are packed with value for your business, large or small.
There will also be tables available for home-based businesses for an entry fee of $100, and your business does not have to be specifically tied to the “home and garden” theme in order to exhibit.
Athens Now is pleased to inform you that we are now read in scores of countries, and last year had more than 1.3 million hits in our online version. The bi-monthly hard copy version is 4,000 with distribution all over North Alabama. Come and get in on the ground floor of what we hope will become a grassroots movement that will build our community for years to come! To register, go to homeshow@cottonrow.com.
By: Ali Elizabeth Turner
