More than a home show: 13 years behind the St. George Area Parade of Homes
Since 2013, the Southern Utah Home Builders Association (SUHBA) has used ParadeSmart to coordinate and host the St. George Area Parade of Homes — one of the most recognized home tours in the western United States. Over that 13-year partnership, the event has grown from roughly 28,000 attendees and 28 homes to more than 40,000 attendees and 31 homes, while SUHBA's team moved from paper tickets and spreadsheets to a fully digital platform.
Partner since 2013
Before ParadeSmart: running a parade on spreadsheets
Before partnering with ParadeSmart in 2013, SUHBA ran the Parade of Homes almost entirely by hand. Builder and home information came in from each participating builder, got entered into a spreadsheet, and then re-entered again for the printed program magazine — the same information, typed twice. Ticket sales leaned heavily on in-person transactions, and without any way to track home visits electronically, SUHBA's team was left estimating attendance rather than measuring it.
"We were managing it internally — we relied heavily on in-person ticket sales. Content was entered in Excel spreadsheets, and there was a lot of redundant work. For example, builder information — they would send their home information to us, we would input it, and then we sent the report to the magazine publisher. We kind of had to guess at the visitor attendance, as far as number of visits to the homes."
For a small association staff, that redundancy came at a real cost. "We're so limited on staff, and there's only so many hours in the day," Mari explained, "so we're always looking to improve efficiency — to work smarter, not harder." That search for efficiency is what first brought SUHBA to ParadeSmart.
A partnership that keeps evolving
ParadeSmart replaced SUHBA's manual process with a single branded system: a builder back-end for submitting home and listing information once, a mobile app and event website under SUHBA's own brand, and — over time — digital ticketing and door-side scanning that finally gave SUHBA real attendance data instead of estimates.
What's kept the relationship going 13 years, in Mari's telling, isn't any single feature — it's the back-and-forth. Each year SUHBA's team keeps detailed notes on what worked and what didn't, and brings those pain points back to ParadeSmart.
"ParadeSmart has helped us tremendously. I love that you are always looking to improve, and we see each other as partners. When we have ideas, you're willing to listen, evolve, and implement new ways of doing things. We always keep detailed notes, so for the next event we can ask: how can we address this, how can we solve this, how can we work more efficiently? That's what we love about you guys — it's not just static, it's evolving."
That evolution shows up most clearly in the scan data. "I've been here for the past twenty-six years," Mari said, "and it's crazy to see the scan count just growing and growing, year after year."
The results, by the numbers
Thirteen years in, the Parade has grown on nearly every axis SUHBA tracks — more homes, more attendees, and a much higher share of tickets sold and scanned digitally instead of by hand.
Over half of tickets now sell themselves. In 2013, digital ticket sales didn't exist — every ticket was sold and scanned by hand. Today, 51% of tickets are purchased directly in the ParadeSmart app or online, and the average attendee visits 9+ homes per ticket, evidence that the app's routing and planning tools are changing how people actually experience the Parade, not just how they pay for it. Ticket prices have grown right alongside attendance — from $15 to $25 (+67%) over the same period — without slowing digital adoption.
What this growth means for Washington County
Ask Mari why any of this matters, and the answer isn't about ticket counts — it's about how the Parade helps promote SUHBA's members and supports building a better community.
"We exist because of our members — we want to help them be successful in their business, and the Parade of Homes is probably the most important marketing tool that our members have. It has to be a positive experience in the community, from the visitors that attend, but also the community impact as a result of the Parade of Homes. We give away $50,000 in education scholarships every year. We do community service projects — our members don't just work in the community, they want to improve it, they want to give back. Professionalism is our top goal, year after year. And if we leave a footprint — that we're making it a better community — that's what matters."
That community mission is backed by outside recognition, too. Southern Utah's own coverage of the event has called it "one of the best-managed and most popular home shows in the entire country" (The Independent).
So — how does a Parade of Homes impact a community? For SUHBA, it's meant a growing platform for scholarships and service projects, a countywide showcase for professionalism, and a marketing engine reliable enough that SUHBA's members keep coming back, year after year. A digital backbone that removed the guesswork and the redundant data entry is, in Mari's telling, what freed her small team to focus on that mission instead of spreadsheets.
"The team at ParadeSmart are great to work with. They created a professional app that looks good and performs well, personalized to our Parade. We liked that we had control of our own branding and the content of the app so that it was consistent with our event. The support from their team was outstanding throughout development and during the event. I recommend ParadeSmart to everyone."
The Southern Utah Home Builders Association represents home building and trade professionals across Washington County, Utah — advocating for the local building industry and hosting the St. George Area Parade of Homes among its signature member programs.
ParadeSmart is an all-in-one platform for HBA Parade of Homes events — digital ticketing, interactive maps, builder profiles, and analytics for 50+ associations across the U.S. and Canada.
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