Olean Home Health Fitness Expo kicks off in new location | News

Hosted by the Greater Olean Area Chamber of Commerce, the expo is designed to inspire individuals with countless ideas on enhancing their health and fitness, as well as recreational aspirations. Show goers will be able to talk to a number of area experts and learn about home, health, fitness and more — all in one place.

Located in the events center at Good Times of Olean for the first time, setup had gone smoothly with only a couple small hiccups, said Meme Yanetsko, the chamber’s chief operating officer.

“It’s been so nice outside, hopefully, people will still stop down,” she said.

One of the show’s longtime vendors is the Van Dyke Agency, the real estate and rental company that recently purchased Chamberlain Realty in Olean. Owners Todd and Ciji Van Dyke said the home market is hot for sellers because the inventory of homes is comparatively low.

“There’s a lot of people looking to buy,” he said.

“Rates, even though they’re going up, are still low compared to past years,” she added.

Because people have been staying at home more in recent years, Todd Van Dyke said buyers are willing to pay more to get the home they want.

“We’re looking forward to meeting a bunch of new people and seeing some old people again,” he added.

“It’s a great community thing that they do here, and the girls at the chamber rock it every year,” Ciji Van Dyke said.

With the combination of home, health and fitness this year, Yanetsko said the chamber is hoping to bring in a larger, more varied crowd with attendees who would normally only attend the home show can see the health and fitness aspects this year

“We want it to be successful for the vendors,” she said. “The show is for the vendors, so we want to make sure traffic is there.”

More than 40 vendors will set up over the weekend, most on the main event center floor and a handful up on the second floor, including the Cattaraugus County Health Department.

With spring here and summer not far behind, the county booth shared educational materials on environmental health such as rabies, Lyme disease, West Nile virus, bed bugs, radon and lead poisoning.

“We’re just getting back to doing everything normally out of COVID,” said Chris Covert, public health sanitarian with the county. “Unfortunately some of it is going back up a bit. We haven’t been pulled back into it yet, so, hopefully, we stay the way we are with our normal programs.”

Because people will be working and playing outside more, Covert said they designed the booth for families to stay informed on what to look out for around their homes and out in nature such as things that can affect humans or their pets.

“We’re hoping to communicate with a lot of people and hand out a lot of education information,” she said.

As with any change in events, Yanetsko said there will be growing pains but said it’s the best of both by promoting so many businesses and organizations.

“Whether you are here for any of those categories, you should be able to benefit from it,” she added. “By having that, it just gives a more diverse option for showgoers as well.”