Fourth Annual Healthy Harvest Festival- 2006
Written by Keppy Arnoldsen & Jennifer Champion
Autumn is a bountiful season providing a cornucopia of gifts from nature. This growing season brought us fruits and vegetables and many summertime activities. Now the splendor of colorful foliage creates a vibrant masterpiece across our forests, mountains, and homes. The Autumn season offers a time for us to reflect on and appreciate our accomplishments that will carry us through the winter months.
Members of the Huntingdon Health and Wellness Association (HHWA) feel Autumn is also a time for nurturing each other and our loved ones with bountiful health, humor, and happiness and for emphasizing community support and the importance of working together to highlight the many talents and assets we have in Huntingdon County. We have much to be thankful for and wish to share our inspiration and passion about healthy living choices and healing arts therapies. Our Annual Healthy Harvest Festival is held with these things in mind. Governor Rendell supports our efforts and proclaimed Healthy Harvest Day across the state of Pennsylvania, which has been supported by his office every Autumn as a special tradition in downtown Huntingdon. Join us as we nurture our community with our Fourth Annual Healthy Harvest Festival on Saturday, October 21st from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Washington Street in downtown Huntingdon.
Our goal is to educate individuals about the benefits of holistic health and their availability in our area and to bring attention to the importance of a healthy community, county, and world. We do this by featuring complementary and alternative health practitioners, businesses, activities, and products in our area that foster wellness for people, animals, and our environment in a fun and interactive atmosphere.
We invite you to sample the healing arts therapies and to unwind and de-stress in our relaxing and nurturing holistic health and healing arts tents where professionals will provide, free of charge, an Aromatherapy Café, Massage, Yoga, Life Coaching and more! There will also be musical entertainers, political dignitaries, Boy Scouts, and booths featuring herbs, herbal products, pottery, art, and varieties of wellness products for your enjoyment and sampling.
To encourage a “healthful atmosphere” we are offering $50 prizes in each of four categories to booths that feature: 1) the best-tasting recipe (Note: healthfulness considered), 2) the healthiest recipe (best ingredients for health), and 3) the Wellness Association’s Choice (the booth that best represents our mission.)
This year’s festival proceeds will benefit the Huntingdon Community Center and the HHWA Wellness Center Fund. We are developing plans to open a Health and Wellness Center in Huntingdon with the intention to promote and provide alternative, complementary, and integrative health care offerings to community members and visitors. The Huntingdon area currently offers over 25 different complementary and alternative therapies, many of which can be and are often used in conjunction with conventional medicine. The new Community Wellness Center will offer many of these therapies and be available to health practitioners, service organizations, charities that promote health, and entertainers and artists that promote relaxation and healthy recreation in our community. We plan to offer Yoga, Tai Chi, Massage, Dance, Music, Art, and a retail center with wellness related products.
We invite you to join us Saturday, October 21, 2006 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Washington Street, downtown Huntingdon to celebrate the season and enjoy a community in harmony with this year’s Healthy Harvest. Everyone is welcome to visit, volunteer, have a booth, be a vendor, or help sponsor our event. Thanks to everyone who is currently supporting and involved with this community festival. Contact Jennifer Champion at 814-667-2097 or Keppy Arnoldsen at 814-643-3565 for more information or to get involved.
Retreat, Relax, and Renew.