Thousands attend weekend home show, comic convention

The Heartland Home & Garden Show and the Cape Comic Con drew thousands of people to the region during the weekend. Both events ran Friday through Sunday.

The 26th annual home show attracted 7,674 people to the Show Me Center, facility director Wil Gorman said in an email to the Southeast Missourian. Marketing director Josh Hanlon said people pay for their tickets in cash, so it's hard to tell where attendees come from.

However, Gorman said in an email that Saturdays are typically the busiest for the event, since hours are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. that day. He noted this is the second year the Show Me Center has produced the show. Before last year's show, the Southeast Home Builders Association produced the event, meaning they handled all the vendors, Gorman wrote.

In December 2012, he said, the association decided not to do the show any more and the Show Me Center took over as producer.

Cape Comic Con drew a record 1,450 to the Arena Building, a 25 percent increase over last year's show, convention director Ken Murphy said in an email to the Southeast Missourian.

"We had attendance from all over the heartland, the area that appeared to have the largest increase in attendees was from the Poplar Bluff area. As we plan for the 2015 show, (the 10th anniversary) we will look to form partnerships with area groups and businesses to strengthen our awareness in the Cape and surrounding counties as well as Carbondale, Paducah, Memphis and St Louis areas," Murphy wrote.

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