Although the weather in February does not usually condone taking a nice jog around campus, there are many other ways to stay fit in the winter months.
To help out, Bradley University’s Get Fit, Stay Fit club held Fit Fair 2020 Friday on the Markin basketball courts.
The Fit Fair has been going on for about 8 years, and is an opportunity for students to check out different ways of healthy living both on and off campus. This year’s fair had over 400 people attend.
According to their website, Get Fit, Stay Fit club was developed by several Bradley departments to help the campus become more active and make smart nutritional choices.
Sophomore Natalie Scalero helped plan the fair. She said her goal was to promote health and wellness and connect people.
“To me, [the fair] is awesome, just promoting health to Bradley’s community and it’s great at the beginning of the year to get people incentivized to investigate other businesses and activities and foods and it’s cool just to see the community come together,” Scalero said.
The Fit Fair brings in off-campus vendors to encourage health and wellness. This year’s fair had 28 vendors, one of which was RC Outfitters.
“RC Outfitters is a specialty boutique for health and wellness, lifestyle, office, travel, commute, apparel and footwear that has been around in the community since 1977,” owner Adam White said.
White believes Fit Fair brings the community together through Bradley’s support of local businesses.
“What Bradley does for the community of Central Illinois and greater Peoria is tremendous and it’s a privilege and honor that Bradley would reach out to us to be considered to be one of your vendors here,” White said. “So, it’s important for us to support the student body, the faculty, the administration and all your initiatives.”
Scalero said she heard positive feedback from students and vendors. “It has developed from the last two years,” Scalero said. “It was less cramped, according to our vendors, and more students were involved with vendor interaction.”
Scalero said she encourages students to see what is out there in the world of fitness.
“[We want students to] just to see what’s out there, know that there’s different options,” Scalero said. “It’s not all sports, it’s not all food, but there are other ways to get connected and just to find one thing that they find interesting.”
In regards to the future holds for the Fit Fair, Scalero wants to expand some aspects for more interactivity.
“Next year, I want to add a few more vendors, an athletic activity like Zumba and we might have it on a different day like Monday or Wednesday to get more people to come to the fair,” Scalero said.
