Fall Festival becomes more green

Held at a time of year when leaves are turning orange, red and yellow, the Spokane Home Builders Association’s Fall Festival of Homes nonetheless is getting greener. The Fall Festival, now in its sixth year, is experiencing a trend in which more of the homes featured in the show are built using sustainable construction practices and energy-efficient systems, says Katherine Morgan, SHBA’s director of marketing and events. “It’s an exciting time to go out and see new techniques and new features in the homes, several of which are energy-efficient,” Morgan said. The sixth annual Fall Festival will be the last weekend in September, Sept. 24-26, and the first weekend in October, Oct. 1-3. The Festival is a scattered-site show, so the homes featured in it will be located in neighborhoods throughout the Spokane area. As of late July, builders had committed to feature 25 homes in the show. Morgan said she expected that number to increase to 35 homes by fall. The homes will range in price from the low $200,000s to the high $750,000s, and several of them are expected to receive two- to five-star ratings through the Inland Northwest Built Green program, a certification system SHBA adopted three years ago. Built Green operates on a five-star system, with five stars being the highest rating for sustainable, energy-efficient construction. Last year’s Fall Festival was roughly the same size as this year’s show is expected to be, and at about 35 homes, the Fall Festival is the largest new-home show in Washington state. A handful of builders featured Built Green-certified homes last year, including the first Spokane-area home to receive a five-star rating. Built by Brent Peterson Homes, the house is located in the River District neighborhood. This year’s Fall Festival is sponsored by Pro-Build, as well as Bank of America Homes Loans, Coldwell Banker Tomlinson, Leaf Guard and Ferguson Bath and Kitchen Gallery. Five host sites have been selected for the show. At the host sites, visitors can pick up show guides and maps and get more information on new-home construction. The host sites are: * Liberty Lake: Greenstone Homes is featuring two houses in its River District neighborhood, on the north side of Interstate 90 and about a mile east of the Barker Road-Mission Avenue interchange. * Spokane Valley: Coyote Rock LLC is building a new subdivision called Coyote Rock on the south shore of the Spokane River, between Argonne and Pines roads. The development company will have two homes in the show, including a waterfront home priced in the high $700,000 price range. That house is expected to be the highest-priced location in the show. * North Side: Georgen Homes and Marsh Construction separately are building new homes at Five Mile Heights, on the Five Mile Prairie in north Spokane, and that neighborhood will serve as a host site. * West Plains: Copper Basin Construction will feature a home in the Pillar Rock neighborhood, north of U.S. 2 and east of Flint Road in Airway Heights. * South: Eagle Ridge, a Newland Communities development located just west of U.S. 195 in Latah Valley, will have a couple of new homes on display during the Festival, with more information at the Visitor Center at the base of Eagle Ridge. In addition to being a host site, Eagle Ridge is home to this year’s Children’s Miracle Network home, the third home in a three-part series built by Eagle Ridge Builders. Each year, SHBA members volunteer to build one home for the Fall Festival that will be sold to benefit the Children’s Miracle Network. Morse Western Homes is the contractor on this year’s CMN home and was scheduled to finish it late this summer. The Fall Festival of Homes comes on the heels of the June Showcase of Green Homes, which SHBA organized and which featured six Built Green-certified homes, each of which received a minimum rating of three stars. The show, held in the River District neighborhood, was the first fixed-site home show in the Spokane area in six years, and it proved to be successful. Morgan said the 10-day event drew hundreds of visitors each day. While the Showcase drew nice crowds, the Fall Festival is projected to attract even more visitors, Morgan said. “This is an event people throughout Spokane look forward to every year,” she said. “Home shoppers come to the show to buy, and homeowners come to see the latest trends in home design and interior styles.”