MANSFIELD — Natalie Thomas was a little short-handed at the Thomas Electric booth this weekend at the Mid-Ohio Home Show.
That’s because a region-wide power outage created by a powerful wind storm requires an all-hands effort elsewhere from a company that sells and services Generac generators.
“Since Friday afternoon, our phones have been ringing off the hook,” Thomas said Sunday afternoon.
“That’s why I’m the only one here today. Normally, we have three or four of us here, but my guys have all been out in the field since Friday night. And they are still going … it’s been very busy,” she said.
It was a popular booth at the annual show, sponsored by the Mansfield Noon Optimist Club at the Richland County Fairgrounds. That’s not surprising in a county that saw 14,000 customers lose power on Friday, outages which continued into Sunday in some places.
Vendors packed Fairhaven Hall and the nearby Arts & Crafts building, offering all varieties of goods and services for local homeowners on Saturday and Sunday.
(Below are photos from Sunday at the annual Mid-Ohio Home Show at the Richland County Fairgrounds. The story continues below the images.)
Thomas, whose husband, Edward, founded the company in 2007 at 23 Mansfield Industrial Parkway, was on hand to field many questions on a bright, sunny — and yet (again) windy day.
She said the Generac generator is hooked into a home electrical system and kicks on automatically when it senses power has been lost, powered by gas or propane.
“It comes on within a minute and shuts off automatically and will continue to do so as long as you have a gas or propane source,” she said.
She stood beside a Generac 18kW generator, which she said would power a typically sized home during a power outage.
“If you have a gas oven, you can use that on an 18. You can have your AC. You’ll have everything in your house on this particular model,” she said.
She said the model is installed on a concrete pad and comes with a seven-year extended warranty. Installed, the generator model comes in at around $10,800, she said.
Financing over five years is available with a fixed interest rate and the unit can be paid off early without penalty, she said.
Thomas said the company does annual maintenance on the units and also provides 24/7 monitoring through a mobile app.
The company also does regular residential electric work.
“But this has been kind of our main thing we’re known for in the Mansfield area,” Thomas said.
The annual event began as the Mansfield Noon Optimist Home and Flower Show in 1950 to raise funds for community youth and to promote local businesses. The local club began in 1923.
In 1967, the show underwent a revision and reorganization. The secondary theme of the show was changed from “Flower Show” to “leisure living,” and the show moved to the Westinghouse Electrical Workers CIO Hall on East Fourth Street.
In 1970, the show was expanded and moved again to the Richland County Fairgrounds to use the new Fairhaven Hall. Then in 1973, it moved again to the Richland Mall.
The show was eventually moved back to its present site of the fairgrounds, using multiple buildings to make room for vendors.
Noon Optimist Club members have said the annual fundraiser has generated more than $250,000 for local youth and youth-oriented projects. It has also provided a spring-time event for local businesses to promote their goods and services.