WellFest to come to UB

For the first time, the Buffalo WellFest series will be available to University at Buffalo students in Alumni Arena on Saturday.
"WellFest is Western New York's largest and most comprehensive healthy living exposition," said Randy Murphy, marketing director for Harmony Expositions. "There will be over 100 vendors present."
WellFest was initially just available to employer groups, but Harmony Expositions, Inc., in partnership with BlueCross BlueShield Western New York, decided that it was time to get students and the community involved as well.
"There is no better time to learn good habits than when you're a student," said Nancy Murphy, the president of Harmony Expositions. "A lot of students start smoking or developing bad eating habits because [the years at school] are so stressful, but that stress carries on after school as well."
The first day of the WellFest, Friday, is only for UB faculty and staff, while the exposition on Saturday is open to all UB students and the community.
According to Randy, health screenings, body strength testing, bone density tests, alternative and traditional medicine providers and healthy food tasting will all be available at WellFest.
"UB not only provides the space available to have [WellFest], but it also has a large population of students that are invited to go," Randy said. "Having the event at UB also gets the community onto the campus, which doesn't happen often."
Nancy stresses that one of the main points of the event is the idea that properly taking care of oneself can be fun; it doesn't have to be drudgery.
"[Everyone] feels better when they are properly taking care of [themselves]," Nancy said.
In addition to vendors and health professionals, there will be various healthy activity demonstrations, including Pilates, ballroom dancing and martial arts.
There will also be a raffle and prizes to win, including spa vacations, movie tickets, bicycles and gift baskets, among others.
The WellFest series has three separate dates, the first of which is at UB. The second is on May 15 at the Buffalo Bills Field House, and the third is June 2 at the Buffalo Convention Center.
There will be many vendors to choose from at the events, but they will vary depending on the location.
"At the event at UB, there will be more vendors from the Northtowns, at the Field House more vendors from the Southtowns and at the Convention Center, the majority will be from the downtown area," Randy said.
Complimentary admission is available to the public with a coupon that can be obtained online at www.bcbswny.com or in person at BlueCross BlueShield's corporate headquarters on West Genessee St., according to a press release.
Students are able to get in without a ticket by showing a valid UB card at the door. The event will run from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

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