TTHEK'EHDELI/JEAN MARIE RIVER
Students at Louie Norwegian School put some fun into eating healthy during a recent event.

Zaida Sanguez happily displays the popcorn popper that she won at the Nutrition Fair that Louie Norwegian School held in Jean Marie River March 28. - photo courtesy of Louie Norwegian School

The school held its second annual Nutrition Fair on March 28.

Community members were invited to share in a lunch of shepherd's pie, salad and vegetable and fruit platters the students prepared and then participated in eight different games.

"It's just to raise awareness about healthy foods in the community," said Kent Bratton, the school's principal.

There is a high rate of diabetes in the North and the event promotes healthy lifestyles and eating, he said.

Bratton and his wife Brooke Suwala held two fairs while they were teaching in Wrigley and brought the concept with them to Jean Marie River, where they've also held two.

Suwala developed the ideas for this year's events and the students helped organize them and ran each game.

Esmeralda Antoine, 10, ran the traditional plants puzzle.

Antoine cut up four pictures of medicinal plants including Labrador tea and rat root, and participants had to rearrange them and guess what they were.

The obstacle course was Antoine's favourite event.

It included throwing bean bags through hoops, knocking down bowling pins and playing miniature golf.

"There was lots of fun games," she said.

The prizes were Zaida Sanguez's favourite part of the fair. For each game they completed, participants got a stamp in their passport.

Once they did them all they could put their passport into the prize draw.

Sanguez, 12, won a popcorn maker. The prizes for children also included a popsicle maker, a blender and a muffin tin.

Adults had the chance to win water filters and picnic baskets filled with meat and vegetables among other things.

Sanguez ran the Taste Around the World game. Participants had to taste different food and then put a pin in a map of the world on the country they thought it was from.

The samples included Nutella from Italy, chorizo, a pork sausage from Spain, wasabi peas from Thailand and Marmite from England.

"Some people guessed right and others didn't," she said.

The other games included a nutrition version of Jeopardy and drawing a healthy meal complete with specific numbers of items from different food groups.

Three staff with the Department of Health and Social Services, including Melissa Hardisty-Beaverho, a community health representative, and Tiiu Cli, a community health promotion officer, also ran a booth about reading nutrition labels.

"It was a really good fair," Hardisty-Beaverho said.

Hardisty-Beaverho would like to see more Deh Cho communities run similar events because they help provide knowledge about food and nutrition.

Community members were also challenged to get a milk mustache during the fair like those in the Got Milk? posters and then have their picture taken. Approximately 30 people came to the event.

The school received funding from the Drop the Pop campaign for the fair.