Despite the holiday weekend, the second annual DECA Home Show drew a crowd of hundreds.

The show, held in the high school gymnasium, ran from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. It was put on to promote awareness of and fundraise for the Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA) program at the high school, as well as serve as a networking tool for the students, said program co-advisor Cindy Sylvia.

The DECA program is an international club with chapters at several levels that helps teach students about the world of business, through competitions and networking events.

Sylvia said program Booster Club President Kim Carmen brought the idea of a home show last year from where he works at Upper Cape Tech.

“He really embraces our kids, and gives them every opportunity to learn while they do some significant fundraising,” Sylvia said.

Senior coordinator and high school senior Jayla Silva said there were more than 60 businesses at the show this year, a significant increase over last year’s 42. She said the students work to attract all sorts of businesses for the show, from painters and construction workers to soap makers and garment buyers. The students also sell ads to different newspapers and hand out tickets to the free show, as well as conduct surveys the days of the show, to learn what they can improve for next year.

“It shows how many people support Wareham,” Silva said. “Our DECA members are really committed. You see so many of us here.”

Sylvia estimated there were more than 800 visitors throughout the course of the weekend, and that 70 students worked to put on the show.

“We had the kids secure the vendors, and do the client relations, so it really taught them a lot about sales,” she said.

But it isn’t just about the business aspect and the learning experience for the students.

“This event is as much about community as it is about the vendors being in there,” Sylvia said. “It gives [the community] something positive … they can do on the weekend, and hopefully gets them some things with regards to home improvement … and it creates really good business partnerships.

Though attendance was down a bit, due to the Palm Sunday holiday, Silva said she still expected the show to rake in more than the $6,000 – $7,000 the show brought in for the club last year, because of the increase in vendors.

Silva said there are 19 students going to the national DECA conference in Nashville in April, and some of the money raised over the weekend will go towards defraying the cost for a few of them, as well as supporting program initiatives and competition costs in the future.

She also said the show was a good way to introduce the concept of DECA to younger students and their parents.

“It gets them thinking about getting into the program,” Silva said.