Builders listened to that, and the homes improved. This year's show homes reflect consumer interest in home technology, particularly entertainment and security systems, maximum usable space, higher ceilings, more natural light and other amenities, Reinholdt said. Show-goers look remarkably different than in the early 1950s shows, which drew 200,000 to 300,000 people from as many as 17 states. Chudnow recalls women in dresses, hats, gloves and heels and men in suits, ties, hats and freshly polished shoes waiting patiently in long lines for their turn to tour the homes. Much effort is devoted to facilitating both auto and foot traffic, she said.
Visitors wear plastic booties, for instance, over their shoes to minimize soiling showhouse floors.
That's still true, Reinholdt said. Builders say they often see show-goers return several successive years before contracting to build a new home. Appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Aug. 15, 1999. All rights reserved. Produced by Journal Interactive .