Green living takes centre stage at Caledon Home and Lifestyle Show
Another successful Caledon Home and Lifestyle Show is in the books.
From April 12 to 14 at the Albion Bolton Community Centre, the show brought Caledon residents, businesses, and non-profits together to network and learn.
Show producer Liz Shaughnessy said she was happy to have Caledon Councillors come out to the show’s opening ceremony on April 12.
“Mayor Groves delivered an exceptional speech,” she said. “Then Caledon Meals on Wheels spoke about the importance of this event to them.”
Each year, the Caledon Home and Lifestyle Show raises money for Caledon Meals on Wheels, a local non-profit that provides meals and programs for seniors and individuals with disabilities.
A big focus of this year’s show was green living.
“The very important new green living feature showed us how to lower our carbon footprint, saving money and saving energy,” said Shaughnessy. “All those wonderful things.”
Shaughnessy said the show was an amazing experience.
“There's nothing like doing a community show like this because people come together,” she said. “I know this is the best show floor Caledon’s ever had.”
John MacRae, co-chair of ecoCaledon, which partnered with Shaughnessy on the green living feature, said it was great to have so many environmentally-focused non-profits and businesses gathered together in one place.
“When you see a whole bunch of things all in one spot, you get more engaged,” he said.
Laurie Dickson, home energy retrofit lead at the Centre for Community Energy Transformation, a Peel non-profit that was at the show, said the Centre offers free coaching services for people looking to make energy-efficient upgrades to their home, whether it's a small or large one.
“We’ll guide you in the right direction,” said Dickson. “We just got some good news that the government is issuing a new grant for lower and middle-income families to do energy-efficient upgrades.”
Kenneth Bokor, host of the EV Revolution Show and was at the Home Show chatting with residents about electric vehicles and local dealership Fines Ford Lincoln had two electric vehicles on the show floor.
“I’m here to help educate, create awareness, and take away some of the fear, uncertainty and doubt that surrounds the electric vehicle landscape,” said Bokor. “I’ve talked to several people that are considering EVs and they’re asking some really educated questions which is good to see.”
Giovanni and Clancy Dametto, owners of Viva Earth Refillery, an environmentally-conscious one-stop shop for household and personal care products. They had a booth at the home show and were chatting with residents about their business, which opened last May.
“We’re right at home here with ecoCaledon beside us…it’s great to have eco-friendly alternatives and educational programs here (at the home show),” said Giovanni. “It’s a great opportunity for us vendors to meet new people and introduce ourselves… meeting people face-to-face is one of the greatest ways to express our passion for our business.”
Chris Hillert, owner of Sawmill Structures, a business that sells log cabin bunkie kits and more, was well-represented. A centrepiece of the show was one of the log cabin bunkies, which was assembled for viewing on the show floor.
“We’re a modular stacking log company… we make bunkies and auxiliary buildings that you can use for pretty much anything you want,” said Hillert. “It’s a really easy system to put together… there’s no measuring or cutting required… all you need is a foundation and you can have a fully-functioning building in less than a day.”
Hillert is a Bolton resident and started his company in 2016. He’s always been a lover of the outdoors, and got the idea for his company when his son asked him to build a treehouse. Hillert had just finished some other projects and was feeling burnt out, so he thought to himself: what if there was a kit I could buy?
“I went down a rabbit hole… I designed a kit, figured out a lock system to use that was easy to build… we made a design and put it online and it absolutely blew up,” said Hillert. “We started a whole company around the concept of easy, affordable extra space that you can use for anything.”
Hillert said he was proud to showcase his business at the Caledon Home and Lifestyle Show.
“Being able to bring this here was really special because I am from Bolton,” he said. “It’s an engaging feature that people get excited about.”
Zachary Roman, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Caledon Citizen
