Becoming health-conscious is a trend starting to make its way back into American culture once again.

After so many years of fast food and inactive lifestyles, people are getting active and getting healthy. Beyond just being a place to exercise, the University of Northern Iowa’s Wellness and Recreation Center promotes activities and programs that improve students’ wellness. The annual Autumn-matic Wellness Fair is just one of its many outreach events.

The fair is the brainchild of the WRC’s current Wellness Resource Coordinator, Deedra Dahlager. She brought the fair to UNI after an internship at the University of Iowa. At Iowa, they put on numerous fairs and as an intern, she had to organize and help out with the fairs. When she came to UNI about five years ago, she couldn’t think of a better event to bring with her to the campus.

Dahlager contacted local resources, and it bloomed from there.

This year’s fair will be featuring exhibitors from around the UNI campus and Cedar Valley community. These groups will be representing different agencies and organizations that have a health or wellness tie. Fifty to 60 booths are expected to be participating, with final numbers still waiting for some conformations.

A variety of activities and presentations are going to be available for students to experience. Chair massages, healthy cooking demonstrations by the Hy-Vee dietician, a pottery demonstration, hand strength tests, waistline risk screenings, blood pressure and body mass testing and samples galore are all available for fair-goers.

Exhibitors that are less obvious to health issues will also be in attendance. For example, there will be a group of interior designers talking about the effects of setting on emotional well being. They will give pointers on how to transform a dorm, apartment or home into a restorative environment.

“So you can kind of see those ties that people might not think of it being wellness, but it really is,” Dahlager said.

Several booths from UNI will be at the Autumn-matic Wellness Fair. Campus services for substance abuse, counseling and violence intervention will be in attendance. Horticulturalists from the botanical center are also expected to come. Finally, a station explaining the plans being made for the Dalai Lama’s visit will educate students about the preparation needed for His Holiness on the 14th.

Some UNI students are ready for the fair. Brittany Sikora, a freshman communicative disorders major, plans on attending.

“I was told a little bit about it in my Personal Wellness class,” Sikora said.

Personal Wellness is a class in the 45-credit liberal arts core at UNI. As a part of its new format, points are given for attending outside activities specific to its five modules. Attending the fair satisfies half of the points needed for the first unit, “Decision Making.”

Last year, 650 people attended the fair. Dahlager hopes to increase that number significantly, mostly by students’ word of mouth.

“I think it’s just a really great day because it brings in so many different organizations, agencies and businesses that are all in one place at one time and you can learn about a lot of different pieces of the community and on-campus that you may not have known about otherwise. You’re sure to learn something new and take away great health and wellness information. I truly believe there is something here for everyone,” Dahlager said.

The Autumn-matic Wellness Fair will be held in the WRC’s North Gym on Tuesday, October 27 from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.