Children's Healthy Fun Fair

Excitement is mounting for the upcoming Children's Healthy Fun Fair. This will be the eighth year for this annual event. Hard to imagine that something that started out with a dedicated group of agencies back in 2004 has grown to such a marvelous event. And that dedicated group is still involved with the fair!

If you have never attended, here's what you can expect. Over 30 agencies come together to offer you the latest information for the health and wellbeing of the children in your life. Some of the agencies participating include Parents and Children Together, both the Liberal and Seward County Fire Departments, Southwest Medical Center, Southwest Guidance Center, Liberal Police Department, WIC and some other folks from the County Health Department, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Smart Start of Southwest Kansas, and many, many more.

The event takes place on Saturday, March 5, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Ag Building on the Seward County Fairgrounds. This is the same weekend as the 2011 B107.5 Springfest Home & Fun Show at the Event Center, as well as the preliminary events for Pancake Day, so you can keep everyone in the family really involved by going from one building to the other.

Our healthy fun fair exhibitors have put together lots of great information for parents. While parents are gathering that information and talking with exhibitors, children can do some fun crafts at some of our tables, put together a healthy snack at another, and see how they measure up in the fitness challenge at the Liberal Parks & Rec booth. Strolling animal characters add to the fun of the fair as well. One can personally learned a lot about many organizations in town they are not familiar with, so it is worth your while to stop for a moment and visit with the exhibitors. You never know when you will be in need of assistance from their agency. Then you'll know just who to call.

A resource many Kansans do not know about is Kansas Health Online.The goal of Kansas Health Online is to empower Kansans to make more informed health care decisions. They strive to provide helpful information in an easy to understand way.
Here is what you will find on Kansas Health Online:

• compare hospitals
• find doctors
• compare health plans
• analyze symptoms
• get the latest information on medical conditions
• make healthy lifestyle choices
• learn more about health policy

To access this service, go to www.kansashealthonline.org. Stop by the library's booth at the fun fair for some great handouts provided by Kansas Health Online.

The library offers lots of resources for people concerned about their own health or that of their children by way of nutrition information, exercise options, cookbooks, and the like. There are even a number of children's fiction picture books that help drive home the message of better lifestyle choices in a fun way. These titles include: The Gulps by Rosemary Wells, Showdown at the Food Pyramid by Rex Barron, Burger Boy by Alan Durant, IQ Gets Fit by Mary Ann Fraser,Get Up and Go by Nancy Carlson, and Happy, Healthy Monsters: Get Moving with Grover by Abigail Tabby. In addition, our non-fiction section has a number of great cookbooks geared to cooking with youngsters that feature healthy recipe options.

The library collection contains a four-book set put out by U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of Diabetes Translation, Native Diabetes Wellness Program, that centers around diabetes awareness. These titles, by Georgia Perez include Through the Eyes of the Eagle, Knees Lifted High, Plate Full of Color, and Tricky Treats.

Even if you don't have children at home, your life is probably touched in some way by children, be it as a grandparent, a caregiver, a church worker, or a neighbor. So come on out to the Ag Building and see what we have to offer. Plan to take in all the events going on at the Event Center and the Ag Building on March 5. See you at the Children's Healthy Fun Fair and at Memorial Library!