WORTHINGTON -- Northland Mall was full of life Friday during the Home, Health and Garden Show, as vendors from around the region showed up to tout their products and services.
The show, sponsored by the Worthington Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Northland Mall, continues from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the mall.
"I just walked in to shop, and saw all the people there and thought we'd check it out," said Tammy Connor, who stopped at the Discovery Toys table with her daughter, Melissa Newhouse, and her two young grandchildren, William and Andrew Newhouse.
"We're just looking around," Melissa added.
There were plenty of things to see in all three of the show's categories, and plenty of little freebies to pick up: pens, flashlights, tiny toolsets, magnets and oven mitts. At American Family Insurance, passers-by could spin a wheel and win a small prize.
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Kids could pet chicks from Runnings of Worthington or bring home balloons from T & M Safety Systems, a company from Spirit Lake, Iowa, that sells smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.
Young people also flocked to the table filled with bright, colorful Discovery Toys, with its rubber duckies fitted out as princesses, soldiers, teachers, firemen and angels.
Visitors who tired of tables could watch a showing of the "Voices of Immigrants" documentary in one of the mall's vacant storefronts or stop for a sloppy joe sold by Hy-Vee.
On the home décor and cooking front, Pampered Chef sold its line of pink breast cancer awareness aprons, candy dishes and kitchen gear. At Home America had a display of candles, plates and vases.
Many banks were represented at the event, and their employees helpfully explained home loan programs to anyone who needed them.
Marlyn Nystrom of Grandpa's Fun Farm in Worthington brought birdhouses shaped like a phone, a church and a log cabin, as well as planters and benches mostly made of pine.
Sanford Home Medical Equipment's table was chock-full of demonstration medical devices: a machine used to treat sleep apnea, a brassiere with foam inserts for mastectomy patients and a breast pump for recent mothers.
Ken Versteeg, executive director of the Community Blood Bank, helped raise awareness for his organization, which provides nearly all the blood for Worthington Regional Hospital.
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Meanwhile, WRH offered free blood sugar tests. The tests may have been spiked a little bit by Clean Air For Everyone, which was handing out cookies at its "Tobacco Toll House."
