Wellness expo could become annual event

THE success of Bannockburn’s first wellness expo late last month has led the main organiser to consider making it an annual event.

Anne Finch said a follow-up meeting with backers of the Bannockburn Wellness Expo had not yet taken place, but response to the 23 March event had been sufficiently positive to prompt a discussion.

“People were certainly excited about it,” Mrs Finch said. “The feedback was really good.”

A dozen stallholders set up at the Bannockburn Bowls Club, attracting at least 100 people between 9am and 1pm.

Mrs Finch, the CEO of local healthy smoothies store Blend’d, said the expo clearly achieved its aim of boosting awareness about wellness and lifestyle businesses and services that exist in and around Bannockburn.

“People said the town really needs something like this,” she said. “They said it was a great idea.

“There was nothing that would stop us doing it again.”

The Golden Plains Shire and the Bannockburn and District Chamber of Commerce were both official backers, and Mrs Finch said making the expo an annual event would certainly be a topic for discussion at a post-event meeting with them.

She also plans to investigate attracting and securing additional formal backing, as well as marketing opportunities.

Anne Finch was inspired to organise the expo because many people were unaware of local businesses and services.

Mrs Finch particularly wants to involve a greater number of healthy food vendors.

Stallholders last month included Mrs Finch’s own Blend’d, psychologists, chiropractors, physiotherapists, dentists, spiritual and aesthetics practitioners, massage and facials providers, fitness recovery, a gymnasium, Hesse Rural Health, Estia Health, a personal trainer, the local men’s shed, and a pilates studio.

Before the inaugural expo, Mrs Finch said many local residents were travelling to Geelong or other places outside the shire primarily because they did not know local options existed.

“There’s a lot of gaps in our conversations where we just don’t know about these businesses, and they’ve been there for 10 or 20 years – but a lot of people who live in the area don’t even know about them,” she said.