Exhibitors preparing to welcome attendees to annual home and garden show

By Lethbridge Herald on March 11, 2026.

Herald photo by ALejandra Pulido-Guzman Southern Alberta Rock Gardens and Landscaping LTD. staff fill up a small pond on display for visitors to enjoy at the Home, Garden & Leisure Show Tuesday at the Lethbridge Trade & Convention Centre.

By Alejandra Pulido-Guzman

Lethbridge Herald

With the Home, Garden & Leisure Show just around the corner, exhibitors were busy Tuesday morning getting their displays set up in anticipation of welcoming attendees Thursday through Saturday. 

One of them was the Southern Alberta Rock Garden and Landscaping Ltd. A company that has taken part in the Home, Garden & Leisure show for 40 years. They were setting up a garden display, which owner Junji Kuno described as being a Japanese inspired low maintenance yard. 

“Every year is different, every year we change the display, but we are always trying to show people what they can do with their yard, especially low-maintenance yard because everyone is so busy,” said Kuno. 

He said that even though they had three days to set up their display for the show, it can take up to a few weeks to do it a customer’s yard, depending on the size. 

“It’s great to see people at the show, it’s good for business, but we have been here for so many years, that it is also word of mouth, or someone bringing someone new to the show to see our display and we can talk about what we can do for them,” said Kuno. 

Talking to people and creating relationships is something Jim Merke, branch manager of Lethbridge Door Systems agrees with, as he shared that for him is about relationships. 

“I don’t sell garage doors, I sell service. The doors will come as long as the service is there. And that’s really what we’re trying to create here,” said Merke. 

He said that thanks to that motto, last year during the show they closed deals that led to a $145,000 in revenue, before the overhead cost of taking part of the show, but overall, he said it was great. 

“We operated last year with a single iPad and a single point of sale machine. All wireless. This year, we’re bringing in three iPads and three point of sale machines,” said Merke. 

He explained that they have the iPads to be able to show the potential customer what their door will look like in real life, and if the deal is sealed, they can send the order right there and then to Edmonton for production. 

“We’re anticipating growth. And I am cautiously optimistic that we will get the rewards from this. But it won’t just be the three days that we’re here. It’s the 365 days thereafter,” said Merke.