Cranbury Township is determined to spread the word on proper health – especially to students.
That mission has resulted in the first Health and Wellness Fair, which will take place at the Cranbury School on May 18.
The fair will run from 12 p.m. until 3 pm at the school, which is located on 23 N. Main St.
The fair replaces the Drug Free Fair, which had been organized in Cranbury for 28 years.
According to officials, the purpose of the Health and Wellness Fair is to inform, inspire and empower the school community to take actions that lead to healthy eating, physical activity and positive life style habits.
“We want the students to experience Health and Wellness. We want them to not just learn about it but be a part of the activities,” said Joann Charwin, coordinator of the Health and Wellness Fair. “We will have fitness demonstrations, an inflatable climbing wall, healthy cooking demonstrations for students, and the children with also have a neat opportunity to participate in Pedal Powered Smoothies. Pedal Powered Smoothies allows children to create smoothies by operating the blenders with pedaling on bicycles. We will have three different kinds of smoothies that are all healthy or organic.”
The fair will have 40 participants, six field activities and four fitness demonstrations, according to Charwin.
Participants will be presenting healthy cooking demonstration activities, a Pedal Powered Smoothies activity, there will be local farmers, Boy Scouts West Property Hikes, a Girl Scouts service project for the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen, bird watching walks, fitness demonstrations, an inflatable climbing wall and slide. Seeing Eye Dogs, therapy dogs, and the Master Gardeners are also a part of the fair, officials said.
“This has been very exciting for me to coordinate the fair. This is the first time I have really been involved to this extent in the fair,” she said. “We have already had such positive feedback from the participants. We have a lot of new activities for the students. We have so many Cranbury School teachers also preparing to be in the Health and Wellness Fair.”
Charwin has been working with a committee of 14 members to get the fair ready for residents, students and children in town.
She said everything will be free at the fair for those who attend.
Prior to the May 18 event, students will have an opportunity to walk to school with Cranbury Mayor James Taylor, Chief of Police Rickey Varga and Cranbury School Principal Susan Genco. All students are invited to participate in this walk beginning at 8:00am on May 17.
They will meet at the fire house on Main Street and head on over to school together, Charwin said.
“The kickoff event is something new to the fair. Mayor Taylor suggested it. I think the children will be very excited for the walk to school with the mayor, police chief and the principal. We hope this will generate excitement for the fair,” she said.
Charwin said another new piece of the fair is the colorful fun run.
“We have never done this run before. The run will kickoff the beginning of the fair at noon,” she said. “The children will gather up by the welcome table and they will run around the field two times, which will account for two miles. As the children run around the field they will be able to collect colorful things to accessorize. For example, neon glasses, bandanas and colorful streamers will be things the children can collect.”
There will also be a presentation for parents from officials of the Scared Straight drug prevention program, which will discuss the dangers of vaping and e-cigarettes, officials said.
“I hope this event will help encourage people and empower people to have healthy lifestyle. We want people to participate in more fitness activities,” Charwin said. “We hope we help people live a healthy lifestyle.”
