The Senior Lifestyle Expo 2016 was filled with food, information, raffles and entertainment.
The Coleman Funeral Home of Oxford hosted the Senior Lifestyle Expo on Tuesday night. It was the first time Coleman Funeral Home has hosted this event in many years.
About 60 retirees from the community showed up to the free event. People of all ages were welcome, but the event catered to retirement-age citizens to inform them on how to get involved in the community.
“Our goal for this event is to show people what you can do to get involved,” Jeremy Roberts, event services coordinator for Coleman Funeral Home, said. “Most of us that work here went to school here, are from Oxford or have been here a long time, so we are very involved with what we can do for the community. We saw this expo as another way to give back.”
The evening opened with the Lafayette High School Choir and was followed by several speakers who informed and entertained the attendees.
Glenn Coleman, co-owner of the funeral home, welcomed the retirees. Kaye Bryant, a retired community member, spoke about ways to love retirement in an interview. Mark Hartnett of the Argent Financial Group provided information on wealth planning.
“I’ve learned that I need to do some intense planning for my future, and I also was reminded that it’s not so much about possessions, but what we give of ourselves to our legacy,” retiree Patricia Brassel said. “It was a good reminder.”
There were multiple exhibitors, businesses and non-profit organizations that set up booths and tables with information. Some of the exhibitors were from the Oxford- Lafayette Chamber of Commerce’s Retiree Attraction Program, Coleman Funeral Home, Argent Financial Group and the Gertrude Ford Center for Performing Arts as well as others.
“We were able to bring people in touch with vendors in a one-stop shop type of place,” Ashley Frye said.
Frye works for the owner of the funeral home and she helped coordinate the expo.
“We brought vendors together. We brought the community together and they were able to quickly walk around the funeral home and pick up pamphlets and flyers, get information and talk to representatives from different organizations and just have a good time together,” Frye said.
The attendees were entertained with local music.
“I would absolutely say the highlight of the night was the entertainment from both Lafayette High School and Oxford High School choirs. They started off and ended the evening with very good performances,” Frye said.
Many of the attendees said they had fun and would definitely come back again next year.
“I want residents to take away that Oxford has a lot of activities for retirees and anybody entering into that phase of life and that there are a number of organizations that will help them along the way,” Frye said. “Hopefully they were introduced to some of those today.”
