Ames quest: great outdoor spaces

Las Vegas — In a room stocked with new products — including super-strong brooms and durable snow pushers — Camp Hill, Pa.-based Ames Cos. launched a nationwide contest in search of America's great outdoor spaces.

Unveiled here at the National Hardware Show, the "My Epic Outside" contest will award two winners a new set of lawn and garden tools and planters from Ames, Jackson Professional Tools, Razor-Back Professional Tools, Southern Patio, True Temper and UnionTools, all of which are brands in the Ames family.

To win, contestants need to upload the photo of their creative outdoor space built using Ames tools to the contest website. The contest runs through June 9.

VP of marketing Stacie Pacheo pointed to some of the epic projects that have been built over the years, and centuries, with Ames tools — the B&O railroad, the Statue of Liberty and the U.S. botanical gardens.

"Ames is proud to make tools that have helped homeowners and professionals alike create some of America's greatest outdoor spaces, and we want to see them," she said.

Also at the show, the company unveiled new and improved tools, including the Supersocket brooms from Razor-Back, coming in December. The brooms are reinforced with a 7.5-inch heavy duty steel brace, allowing the company to claim a 50% strength boost (MSRP $45).

Coming in October, True Temper's Break-Resistant Blade Shovel will bring strength to the snow-shoveling category. The entire blade is a durable polycarbonate material (MSRP of $30).