WILTON – Festive is the word for Saturday’s annual Home and Leisure Show.

The Franklin County Chamber of Commerce will offer a show filled with everything from horse-drawn wagon rides to food samples, plenty of entertainment and even more vendors than previous years.

“It will be festive,” said Lorna Nichols, executive director of the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce, as she spoke about the show planned from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. March 17 at the Nichols Expo Center on Weld Road.

Show Committee members Shannon Smith, chairwoman, and Doreen Cordona of Key Bank in Wilton were working on last-minute details Wednesday when Smith expressed her excitement over the show.

“We have close to 80 vendors up from 50 last year,” Smith said. The chamber has a perfect location to show everything from mini-barns to cars to tractors, and all under one roof, she said.

One new component of the show, Taste of Greater Franklin County, is similar to a summer event held by the Waterville Chamber of Commerce. Nichols said she wanted to introduce the event to the area but decided to team it with the Home and Leisure Show to help it get a good start.

Anyone involved in food preparation was invited to participate, she said. While some larger local restaurants have an already busy day, as the show is held on St. Patrick’s Day, it’s created an opportunity to showcase some smaller, individual businesses such a Volkernick’s Sausage from Mexico or Cookies from the Heart and Two Oaks Catering, both from the Farmington area.

“It’s an opportunity for these businesses to get exposure and to let people know what they do and to grow their business,” Nichols said.

Food vendors may either give out samples or sell a product, or even make it there and then sell, she said. Volkernicks, for instance, plans to provide samples of its homemade sausage and then sell the frozen product on site.

Dutch Treat of Wilton will give a sneak preview of a product, new for the business, that it will offer this summer, smoothies.

One other special part of the Taste of Greater Franklin County, Nichols said, is the participation of culinary arts students from Mt. Blue High School.

Nichols hopes that people will like this part of the show and that it will grow and in a few years, become its own event.

Some new vendors who plan to attend include West Mount on Farmington Falls Road with its small tractors, Rocky Hill Landscaping from Wilton, and Pinnacle Farm mini-barns from Kingfield with a couple different types of hand-built mini-barns. Everything will be located inside the Expo building, Nichols said.

This year, the biggest and best ever entertainment is planned, she said. Mt. Blue High School musical groups will play throughout the day, including Mt. Blue Show Choir, Mt. Blue Voices, Mt. Blue Syncopations and the Mt. Blue Jazz Band.

Chamber member Holly McCormick of Winter Hill Farm in Carthage will offer horse-drawn wagon rides from the Expo building to downtown Wilton.

While this is the 13th year for the show, more businesses from around the county have committed to participate this year, Nichols said, because, she feels, the chamber has evolved into the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce instead of the Farmington-Wilton Chamber.

“The show will offer a good representation of the great businesses and folks that we have in the county,” Nichols said.