LYNNFIELD — For anyone interested in learning more about ways to improve health and wellness, the 4th Annual Healthy Expo at the Lynnfield Middle School was the place to be Saturday afternoon.
Co-sponsored by A Healthy Lynnfield and the Wakefield Area Chamber of Commerce, the event featured more than 50 health, wellness, and lifestyle vendors who shared helpful information on a variety of topics.
“The great thing about this event, especially this year, is we have such a diverse group of vendors that we really cover so many different aspects of overall and optimal health of residents, so it’s great to see that,” AHL Substance Use Coordinator Diana DeLeo said. “I’m really happy with the turnout we had from vendors and that they were so diverse.”
Business was brisk from start to finish with exhibitors and visitors filling the gymnasium, cafeteria and hallways. The annual Geraniumfest sale took place outside the school, selling what sponsor Ellen Crawford said were “hundreds” of baskets and arrangements.
The expo, usually held at the Meeting House and Town Common, was moved to the middle school due to the threat of rain.
“I am very pleased. You’re always very nervous when you have to move an event, but the vendors were all on board and were very happy,” DeLeo said. “Yesterday I didn’t know how to feel about it, but today I am more than okay considering the attendance was just fantastic. I think it helped that we had a lot of families stop in who were there for youth soccer and soccer and baseball.”
There were plenty of fun family activities to keep kids entertained including comedic juggler Bryson Lang, a karate demonstration by Cervizzi’s, a yoga fitness class with Mom’s Village, face painting, balloon animals and therapy dogs.
The MegaBrain, a tunnel-like oversized inflatable replica of the human brain recently acquired by AHL, made its public debut and was an instant favorite.
“We had it at the high school health fair, but this is the first time we’ve had it at a community event,” DeLeo said. “I saw a little kid who said, ‘Can I go through that?’ I was so happy because there are so many ways we can use that with kids and older residents to show how things like addiction, concussions, epilepsy affect the brain. It’s a great way to educate the public.”
Lynnfield Health Director Coral Hope manned a display about mosquitoes and how to identify ticks. She also distributed mental health awareness information.
“Ticks are going to be very bad this year, so I am just trying to put out some information to show people what they actually look like and learn about ticks, things like how to check yourself,” Hope said. “It’s really good especially for the kids to learn how to check their socks after soccer games to make sure at this time of year they don’t have any ticks.”
Lynnfield High juniors Annabelle Eckhardt and Lorelei Eckhardt and sophomores Ella Price and Katie McGuiness represented the AHL Youth Council. They distributed informational resources and shared some of the projects the group has worked on, one of them conversation cards to help families engage in dialogues about sometimes sensitive topics.
“I really like it and it’s a good opportunity to connect with the community and get to work with people in the school that I don’t necessarily have a lot of crossover with,” Price said. “The conversation cards are for families at the dinner table covering topics they might not have come across.
“Today is about bringing awareness of what our group does and being able to see all the other businesses in town and how we are all connected in the same health and wellness mission,” Annabelle Eckhardt said.
Former AHL Substance Use Prevention Coordinator Peg Sallade, who started the expo three years ago, helped out as a volunteer, had high praise for the Youth Council program and for her successor.
“Again, under Diana’s leadership and drive, the youth group continues to grow,” Sallade said. “They’ve been such good leaders in the schools promoting mental health and good health overall. We should look to kids as our role models because when they care about an issue, they are able to take action on it and what you see today is evidence of that.”
AHL President Phil Crawford said he was grateful to AHL coalition members who supported the expo and the youth groups for all they do to further AHL’s mission.
“The reason we do all this is to educate the youth groups and have them be the peers in the classroom to carry on our mission,” he said. “I also want to thank all the vendors who are here and the residents for coming and making this a successful event, probably the most successful event we’ve had.
“Kudos to Diana DeLeo for putting together another great event. This is a nice community event for the people of Lynnfield. We want to continue this as long as we can.”
For more information about the Expo and A Healthy Lynnfield, go to ahealthylynnfield.org/.
