Staff photo by Fritz Busch A big line of new automobiles from local dealers fills the center aisles at the Home and Health show. For more photos from the show, go to page 8A.

NEW ULM — The 37th Annual Home & Health Show got underway Friday at the New Ulm Civic Center with more than 150 vendors offering a variety of products and services to help improve your home and your health.

Pro Kinship For Kids offered some of the healthiest food with cups of raw carrots and celery in the southeast corner of the Civic Center.

Created to improve lives by establishing quality relationships between individuals and caring volunteers, Pro Kinship, 1400 S. State St., is looking for kids mentors to help young people deal with a void in their life due to loss of a parent, inadequate self-esteem or inadequate socialization skills.

Pro Kinship for Kids mentor matches can be either a single adult, a couple with no children at home, or a family. Potential volunteers begin by filling out an application form. The final decision on whether volunteers partner with a particular young person rests with the applicant.

Retired science teacher Joe (the garlic mustard man) Gartner will tell you all about the very invasive weed of woodland and shaded areas. He has samples gathered in a local park at the show..

A program entitled “Stop Invasive Garlic Mustard” begins at the New Ulm Public Library at 6:30 p.m., Thursday, April 13. Scouts, 4H, FFA and other groups are invited to help pull garlic mustard with City of New Ulm staff at the New Ulm Izaak Walton Chapter’s land next to its shooting range at 1:30 p.m., Sunday, April 2 and June 4.

The same program will be held on Saturday, April 1, May 13 and June 3 at Adams Park at 620 Cottonwood Street, at the south edge of the city. Volunteers are asked to bring gloves to help remove the easy-to-pull plant.

Call Joe Gartner if you plan to attend. For more information, visit thegarlicmustardman.com

New Ulm’s 9th Annual Big Tree Contest is featured at the New Ulm Park and Rec booth. The contest continues until 6 p.m., June 12. The entrant who identifies the largest Locust tree in New Ulm city limits wins.

The winner can select the specie of tree to plant from the City of New Ulm-approved specie list from a City-designated New Ulm nursery. The New Ulm Tree Advisory Commission will reimburse payment up to $200 for the tree (and planting if desired).

At the north side of the Civic Center, electronic muscle stimulators were demonstrated on people. The devices regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, have received more attention lately as a strength training tool for healthy athletes and subjects, a rehabilitation and preventative tool for partially or totally immobilized patients, and a testing tool for evaluating neural or muscular function.

The show continues 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. Seminars begin at 10:30 and 11:30 a.m., 12:30, 1:30, 2:30, 3:20 and 4:15 p.m.

Fritz Busch can be e-mailed at fbusch@nujournal.com.