`PLAYHOUSE' PROJECT NEW FOR 1997 HOME, GARDEN SHOW THIS WEEKEND

The little log cabin has a front porch and doors and windows that work. A chimney rises above the height of the small 9-by-9-foot room.

People who have viewed the miniature house describe it as a "real doll house."

Actually, the cabin is a children's playhouse and is one of four being displayed at West Park Mall this week. They are awaiting transfer to the annual SEMO Homebuilders Home and Garden Show to be held at the Show Me Center on the Southeast Missouri State University campus this weekend.

The playhouses, designed and constructed by SEMO Homebuilders Association members, will be auctioned off Sunday, the final day of the three-day home and garden show. Proceeds will go to the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Missouri.

A total of five houses will be auctioned at the show Sunday. The fifth "Play House" will be constructed during the three-day show by members of the Cape Girardeau Area Vocational School Buildings Trade Class, with materials provided by Boatman's Bank.

"Your Ticket to Spring" is the theme for the 1996 SEMO Homebuilders Home and Garden Show opening Friday and continuing through Sunday. Tickets are $2.50 for adults, children 12-under free.

More than $25,000 in prizes will be given to visitors at the show, including a $5,000 shopping spree which can be used with any of the more than 100 exhibitors at the show.

"We had more than 11,000 visitors at the show last year," said Cindy Gage, a coordinator of the annual extravaganza. "We're expecting from 10,000 to 15,000 this year."

"Mr. Good Garden," a regional gardening expert who hosts his own television program, will appear at this year's show along with members of the SEMO Master Gardeners, a Cape Girardeau area group of certified gardeners.

Also on hand for the show will be Charlie and Ruthie Knote of the Culinary Institute of Smoke Cooking.

A number of workshops and seminars will be held throughout the show. Two separate theaters have been designed.

One of the theaters is devoted to gardening topics, including landscape maintenance, organic vegetable gardening, herbs, wildflowers, using annuals for colors and how to use perennials.

The other theater, "Home Improvement/Outdoor Cooking," will discuss such topics as how to hang wallpaper, sponge painting and stencilling, installing ceramic tile and parquet flooring, refinishing lawn furniture, do-it-yourself plumbing and barbecuing secrets from the professionals.

The playhouse project is new for the local show this year.

"Playhouses have been built and sold at other home and garden shows throughout Missouri," said Sharon Dreyer of Jackson, a volunteer with the Southeast Missouri District "Make a Wish" Foundation. "The project has been very successful in other areas."

Make-A-Wish Foundation of Missouri, headquartered in Springfield, is a non-profit group which makes wishes come true for terminally ill children ages 3 to 18.

"No wish is too impossible," said Dreyer. The foundation has provided trips to Disney World, a flying Superman, computers, meetings with movie and/or sports stars, and in one case even a pet dog.

"We're hoping the playhouse project will be successful here," said Dave Reiminger, coordinator of the Make-A-Wish program at the home show. "In other areas, the houses have sold for $800 to a high of $9,000."

All of the funds raised here will be used in Southeast Missouri.

The buildings, which weigh as much as 2 tons, have $2,500 to $3,000 in materials in them in addition to the labor.

The playhouses here are all 9-by- 9 feet and include the log cabin, a castle, a school house and a residence.

The "Ring-a-Ding Schoolhouse" includes a cupola with a bell. Constructed by BBL Buildings & Components of Perryville, it includes vinyl siding and aluminum soffit, with Grand Manor Shingle shingles, vinyl windows by Marvin and a Stanley Steel door.

The cabin was constructed by Michael Annis Inc., and includes cedar shingles. Supplies for the cabin were provided by Contractors Supply, Cape Electric Co., Edgewater Glass; Cardinal Buildings and American Wholesalers.

The "Little Heartland House" was constructed by Tom Unterreiner Construction Co., and includes vinyl siding and aluminum soffit, and a porch. Providing materials for the house were Central Supply, H & H Painting, Unterreiner Construction and Metro Electric.

A favorite of many of the youngsters is the "Dreamland Castle," with a drivit exterior, built by Mark Wissman Construction of Jackson.

A number of local exhibitors provided materials for the castle, including Kelso Lumber, Pella Windows, Ceiling Supply, Cape Color World, Phillips Carpet, Metro Electric, Acorn Enterprises, Sander True Value, Fred Glueck Roofing, Cape County Farm Bureau and Zeigler Construction.