ISLAMABAD, Feb 9: People of different backgrounds, including locals and foreigners, were seen looking for items of their interest at the Dawn’s annual event: All About Lifestyles.

The organisers witnessed a good start of the two-day exhibition on Saturday, as a large number of visitors began to arrive at the venue as early as 10am, and the huge parking space of Convention Centre was almost filled to the capacity by the late afternoon.

One could see individuals, couples, families and groups of people ranging from the traditional burqa clad women to young ladies in modern outfits walking side by side at the exhibition, looking for things of their interest.

“Most of the exhibitions are focused on a particular product range or any particular idea but the best thing about this show is that it has something for everybody in the family,” said Binte Zahra, who eagerly noticed a wide variety of home decoration and pavilions of interior designers.

Besides, the organisers say that All About Lifestyles, is a major annual event that deals with ordinary people.

As many as 200 stalls and pavilions ranging from furniture-making industry, interiors, manufacturing units, home appliances, skin care, kitchen items, edible products, housing societies, home appliances, cosmetics industry, banks, educational institutions, health and pharmaceutical, etc., put up their stalls for promotion and sales of goods and services.

Some visitors were seen relaxing at the lawns of Convention Centre. Some were seen almost all the time in the expansive food court, offering almost all kinds of eatables from proper local and exotic food to spicy snacks.

“I always like to eat French fries while moving around and it is good to have them here,” said Sabeeka Batool, while her brothers were eager to hit balloons from air gun at the nearby facility.

Most of the housewives were purchasing domestic goods, including edible items, at discounted price.

Stalls of interior designing and furniture drew a good number of visitors but a great deal of interest was witnessed at the health related stalls, where the experts including the Hakims were offering free advice to the visitors.

Incidentally, the most common was to adopt healthy ‘lifestyle.’

The first exhibition of the lifestyle series was held more than a decade ago in Karachi and with passage of time the exhibition has become a major annual attraction in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad.

Despite the calm and peaceful atmosphere in Islamabad, the organisers left no stone unturned in providing security to the visitors.

“Since there is only one entrance and exit gate we have allowed children to move around freely at their will,” said Mohammad Amjad, basking under the sun, as his children were busy trying their luck at various games and lucky draw in the exhibition.

“I am only interested in buying a griddle to cook steaks and there they are,” he added.

For the families who have a special love for their kitchens, Sunday will bring an additional attraction as they could strike the best bargains on the last day of the exhibition, because  the companies are likely to offer more discount on edible items and more gifts to the visitors to clear their stocks.