Cologne in bloom

Koelnmesse is expecting this year’s Gafa + Spoga garden and leisure trade fair from 8 to 10 September to attract some 2 000 exhibitors to this cathedral city. As the organisers stated at a press conference, more than 50 per cent will be coming from abroad. Furthermore, Koelnmesse also explained that all the areas are being more tightly planned in order to reduce the distances walked by fair visitors, which means that the two North halls 7 and 8 will not be occupied this year. The overall exhibition area will amount to some 200 000 m². A new introduction is the ‘Boulevard of Ideas’, which offers exhibitors the chance to use the ‘Spoga+Gafa in 100 seconds’ format for the individual presentation of their new products in no more than 100 seconds. “Spoga+Gafa is a meeting point for the industry on an international level. Only in Cologne is there such global coverage of the garden and leisure sector,” explained Katharina C. Hamma, chief operating officer of Koelnmesse GmbH. “The trade fair duo represents the full breadth and width of the garden and leisure market. It is an international marketplace. This garden event fulfils its function as an interactive and communicative platform with the help of an attractive supporting programme, which at the same time offers trade visitors extra added value,” she continued. Another new feature this year is the altered hall plan. The high-end garden furniture area, ‘garden unique’, is moving to Hall 10.2 in 2013. This will result in the ‘garden living’ segment occupying areas in Halls 1, 2, 3, 5, 9, 10.1, 11.1 and 11.2. Manufacturers of premium garden furniture are located in Hall 10.2 this year. Sowing, digging, fertilizing: trade visitors can find products needed for maintaining a garden in Hall 6. The segment includes soil and fertilizers as well as garden tools and power equipment. Then the fair shows everything required for laying out and developing a garden in the ‘garden creation’ segments in Halls 6 and 9. The product offer ranges from plants to ponds and pools, through to sheds and lighting as well as hand tools and wood for the garden. Low-cost garden pro­ducts are located in the ‘garden basic’ segment in Hall 11.3. Download: