Richfield Wellness Fair Returns to Spring Park on September 9

By WRILEY NELSON
RICHFIELD SPRINGS

The Richfield Springs Community Food Cooperative will hold its second annual Wellness Fair in Spring Park from noon to 3 p.m. on Saturday, September 9. The free event is nearly twice the size of the inaugural fair last year, with 28 exhibitors on site to educate the public about a variety of topics related to human, animal, and community health and wellness.

“The Co-op’s fair committee has been working on this second run since January,” said Coordinator Maureen Culbert. “It has taken a ton of community involvement from individuals and organizations to pull it together. The fair has grown exponentially from last year.”

Exhibitors will present on exercise programs like yoga, Pilates and Reiki, CBD treatment, and dementia care. The Otsego County Office for the Aging and the Department of Health will have information booths on site, as will Bassett Clinic and the Bassett smoking cessation program. The SQSPCA will attend with animals for adoption, and the Richfield Springs Garden Club’s own Dr. Pam Lea, DVM, a retired veterinarian, will be on hand to answer any questions about domestic animal health.

Dr. Lea will combine her two interests and provide information about pet-safe gardening practices. The Garden Club, one of the most active organizations in the village, will also present on its reservoir project.

“We’re in the process of putting in a lot of native plants around the village reservoir,” Culbert said. “It’s about beautifying the town and making it better for everyone who lives here. It will help us draw more visitors to the town’s businesses as well. It’s ultimately about working together as a community and supporting the efforts everyone makes to make Richfield a better place.”

Helios Care and the Fenner Funeral Home will present on different aspects of end-of-life planning and care. The Otsego County Sheriff’s Department will have a booth to take children’s fingerprints. There will also be a number of organizations related to fitness and community care, including the Clark Sports Center, Richfield Springs Youth Sports, the Richfield Springs Community Center, Otsego Outdoors, and more. A bike rodeo for children ages 6-12 will demonstrate safe bicycling and traffic practices.

“We expect a much larger turnout this year, in addition to the larger number of participants,” Culbert continued. “We had a few schedule conflicts last year due to events in Sharon Springs and Fly Creek that drew a lot of our prospective attendees. This year should be very well attended. Fortunately, the park and the surrounding streets have plenty of available parking.”

“Any town has its problems,” she concluded. “A lot of these rural communities have problems with substance abuse, with domestic violence, and with the health problems of an older population. The idea of the Wellness Fair is that people need to be able to find the resources to get help. The fair allows those resources to come to them. The Office for the Aging, for instance, will come to speak directly to seniors. That kind of thing will be especially important as these communities age; a lot of seniors may have trouble seeking out these resources on their own in the digital age.”

In addition to the food co-op, the fair is sponsored by the Richfield Springs Area Chamber of Commerce and the Otsego County Board of Representatives. For more information, contact the Co-op or Town Supervisor Dan Sullivan.