Alexis Stark was relaxed.
Ten minutes after two experienced mask makers had covered Stark’s face with fast-drying, plaster soaked strips, the Momentum employee was standing in a hallway of Ken’s Korner Mall touching the skin where the mask had been. Wrapped in a hot pink feather boa, Stark said the mask experience — which was one of more than a dozen activities at last weekend’s Bliss mind-body health fair — was both art and relaxation.
“It felt really good,” Stark said.
Apparently, she had found her bliss. That was what a number of business people specializing in physical, mental and spiritual health were hoping for as they manned product and service booths in the hallways and classrooms at the Ken’s Korner satellite of Skagit Valley College Saturday and Sunday. Gathered by Momentum owner Kim Helpenstell, the mini trade fair featured professionals selling everything from vitamin-loaded fruit shakes to astrology readings and reflexology exams.
Helpenstell said she got the idea for the fair while talking to club members in a yoga class. They agreed promoting all types fitness, including spiritual and mental, was a good idea, especially from an education standpoint.
“Because there are people out there in the woods practicing their chakra alignments and nobody knows about it,” she said.
Though the crowd was not as thick as participants had hoped, those offering goods and services at Bliss were pleased with the turnout. Langley’s Shari Harris, who sells a line of fruit and vegetable-based health products called Juice Plus, said she still had to make up more than 10 blenders full of juice shakes by midmorning Sunday for people interested in her products.
“I give to get,” she said.
Astrologist and numerologist Nancy Robert used the Bliss fair to “come out of the closet” with her reading business. A dental hygienist during the week, Robert said been looking for a way to kick-start her spiritual sideline.
“This is an opportunity I’ve been waiting for,” she said.
For some of the people attending the fair, Bliss was an education in buying locally. Fitness enthusiast Kelvin Thomas said he found many of the health products he normally buys in the Seattle area on sale at a booth for Langley’s Living Green. He said he will be going to that store in the future for his nutritional supplements.
While it was a nice discovery, Thomas said, he had the most fun at Bliss with the mask makers.
“It was kind of haunting in a way,” he said as he painted his finished mask.
Helpenstell said she will bring Bliss back next spring, and on a date in the fall that does not coincide with the Uniquely Whidbey Trade Fair.
