LITTLE ROCK — The parking lots were packed and spillover vehicles were patiently waiting for spaces at the Holiday Inn Convention Center in Springdale a week ago.
The annual home show in Northwest Arkansas was in full swing. Inside the enormous hall, a thousand folks of all ages were edging past each other, scores of them pushing strollers with wide-eyed passengers.
It created a scene best described as a commotion: “steady and recurrent . . . noisy and confusing motion.” And the commotion steadily pulsed with humanity for three days.
This event (and ones like it in other Arkansas communities) routinely draws people from as distant as my hometown of Harrison 90 miles away, Oklahoma and even Missouri.
I see our annual home shows much like the sprouting of the tiny buds of approaching spring, a landmark date that sets folks’ minds to thinking about pending tulips, patio barbecues and home improvements.
Scores of salesfolk manned the Springdale booths ready to explain everything from pianos to floors, hot tubs, appliances, roofs and anything else connected to a home that one can imagine.
My first stop was by the Godfrey & Black Brick and Stone booth where I’d make a beeline to visit with one of my favorite people in life, son Brandon.
Brandon has worked for the company and its owners, Irvin and Emma Pratt of Fort Smith, for about two years. He said, judging from the size of the crowd, that he believed this turnout obviously surpassed last year’s crowd.
His observation jibed with news stories of late which say home sales are on the rise, as is the overall value of those sold. One study found that Northwest Arkansas home sales broke the $1 billion barrier for the first time in five years in 2012, and the median sales price of $142 thousand is at a four-year high.
While nowhere near the artificially inflated glory years of the mid-2000s in the region, this resurgence in sales and the interest in buying and remodeling residences evident in this center were more than encouraging after years in the dwelling doldrums.
Even apartment rentals had climbed to about 97 percent occupancy in and around Fayetteville. It seemed clear enough to me that in early 2013 lots of folks are either buying, leasing or interested in improving their home.
Everywhere I looked, folks in jeans, caps, jackets and slacks were parading shoulder-to-shoulder down wide aisles. Many toted gift bags of goodies from the merchants. They carried everything from popcorn to candy, keychains, and even bright yellow yardsticks from Meek’s.
At one roofing company, I tried my hand at dart-tossing. The amiable salesman said if I hit and stuck in the tiny bull’s-eye from eight feet away, he’d hand me a gift certificate for $50 to a restaurant of my choosing. New significance for me to the phrase “Winner, winner, chicken dinner!”
I said it was impossible to do. He said he’d already handed out six certificates that day. I tossed, hit the board, didn’t win. I moved on.
Next, I spun a makeshift wheel of fortune at the DirecTV booth, which required zero skill or ability and won a ball cap: “Winner, winner, cap for dinner!” Friendly salesperson Mayra smiled and aptly presented her spiel.
Still, I forged ahead through the throngs, stopping only once to wave at one of those big-eyed little humans staring up from the steady stream of strollers.
About 45 minutes of wading through the adventure in abundant humanity, it seemed a good time to step outside to inspect the 2013 versions of barbecue grills, outdoor stone fireplaces and “Twister Safe” metal rooms of various sizes.
The tempting aroma of hot dogs and chicken being grilled wafted on the midday breezes as another crowd gathered for samples. I was more interested in tornado protection.
With the motto, “Saving lives one storm at a time,” the Twister Safe booth offered a display I could actually step inside. It looked and felt as if I was entering a small room-sized and vented version of a thick and heavy wall safe painted bright red.
There were all sizes of these rooms ranging from one big enough to hold 10 to 16 frightened folks to the smallest, designed for three to five people.
The most impressive thing about these rooms for me were the color photographs of three that survived the EF-5 Joplin tornado of May 2011, which destroyed about a third of that Missouri city.
In the pictures, each room stood like unscathed little fortresses amid rubble that once had been houses. The flier said there had been seven such safe rooms in Joplin when the tornado struck; all remained in the aftermath and had saved lives.
Having just driven through Joplin to survey the slow but steady progress in the rebuilding of that community, I could visualize how reassuring it would have been to have had any place safe to lock myself into if a storm like this was approaching.
For now, I was content just to look at all this latest home show had to offer, then slowly back out and surrender my coveted parking space to head off in search of lunch.
Home-showing for an hour or so-and the fragrance of grilled hot dogs wafting everywhere-sure can make a hungry person even hungrier.
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Mike Masterson’s column appears regularly in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Email him at [email protected]. Read his blog at mikemastersonsmessenger.com.
Editorial, Pages 17 on 02/23/2013