WAKEFIELD — There was hardly a parking spot to be found at the fourth Wakefield Lynnfield Chamber of Commerce Living Well Health Fair on Saturday. Visitors flocked to the fair, formerly the Healthy Living Expo, which was held alongside the Wakefield Farmers Market on North Street on the shores of Lake Quannapowitt.
With perfect weather and a crowd of shoppers spilling over from the market, there was something for everyone from toddlers to nonagenarians with live music, games, prizes, face painting, magic, balloon animals by The Magic of Yarrow’s Tim Yarrow, of Peabody, and plenty of vendors handing out health and wellness tips and advice.
“For us at the Torigian Y, any time we can participate in community events is something we consider extremely important,” said Torigian YMCA Director Rob Lowell, who had his hands full most of the morning with a cornhole contest. “We have had a great turnout today. We typically offer cornhole at events like this and today we had people of all ages, from young kids to someone in his 90s, so it was our chance to have some fun and engage the community so they know what we are doing at the Y.
“There is such excitement at Torigian as for the first time since COVID our camps and all operations are back to where we were pre-pandemic. With the farmers’ market right next door the traffic today has been amazing.”
Lynnfield rising sophomore Lauren Lane manned one of the face-painting tables.
“I thought it was a great opportunity for me to reach out and meet new people while also helping out in the community,” said Lane, who serves on the A Healthy Lynnfield Youth Paid Leadership Team and Student Advisory Board. “By being out in the community, I thought it was a chance to share what A Healthy Lynnfield does in terms of helping to build bonds between students and teachers and help talk about drug and substance misuse.”
Yarrow said he had steady lines all day, creating animals of all kinds, from dogs to a purple octopus.
“We had a lot of happy kids today,” Yarrow said. “I was able to honor all requests. Honestly, if there are things I can’t make, I don’t know what they are yet. Usually I can always figure it out in my head when a kid asks for something unusual, but today was good with lots of people and families having a good time.”
Chamber Director John Smolinsky said the fair had previously been held indoors (other than two years when it was shut down due to the pandemic), but concerns about COVID led the chamber to look for an alternative location.
“One of our board members, Ally Houghton, is good friends with some of the folks that run the farmers’ market, so we met with them and they were thrilled to welcome us,” Smolinsky said. “We worked closely with Catherine Dhingra, the assistant director of the Wakefield Health Department and she was very instrumental in making today happen. We dovetailed nicely with the market and the weather was fantastic. Last week I was here promoting our event at the market and it was so hot, so I honestly believe that God loves the chamber because today was perfect.”
Dhingra said the day was an amazing success.
“It was just a great day for families and also for the vendors who are all saying it was a good networking opportunity with people connecting with each other.”
Anne Marie Tobin can be reached at [email protected].
