Hundreds of people braved wet conditions on Saturday, Oct. 11, to attend a new wellness festival celebrating and promoting healthy lifestyles.
LIC Wellness Fest, hosted by New York City personal training gym Hurricane Fitness and Trends Dispensary, shut down 44th Drive between Jackson Avenue and Thomson Avenue between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. for a “high-impact wellness block party.”
The event, which was supported by sports, wellness and active lifestyle businesses in Long Island City, featured fitness classes, wellness and nutrition workshops and product demos, allowing the local LIC community to sample all things health and wellness.
Rodney Carter, co-founder of Hurricane Fitness and the LIC Wellness Fest, described Saturday’s event as a “great day” for members of the local community to enjoy some fitness activations while also learning about some of the health and fitness-based businesses operating in their neighborhood.
He said the event also encouraged attendees to be more health-focused as well as forming a sense of community around health and fitness.
“We are doing this to build community, to bring people together, but at the same time, our focus is always on health and wellness and then making sure that we are building positive, healthy individuals to give back and pour back into our community and neighborhood,” Carter said on Saturday.
The fitness festival featured an outdoor fitness competitions on 44th Drive, with participants taking on 20 workout stations in a obstacle-themed race.
Indoors, attendees could participate in activities such as elevated yoga and aerobics, while there were also activations such as massages and accupressure treatment.
Brandon Carter, another co-founder of Hurricane Fitness, spoke of his relief that the rain finally stopped during the event on Saturday but said wet conditions would never have stopped the fitness company from holding the event.
He described the festival as a “first-of-its-kind” experience for the neighborhood.
“(This) is bringing different fitness and wellness businesses from all over the community together so the residents of the community could get to meet them, know who they are, where they’re located,” Carter said. “The businesses could get to meet the residents… we’re just connecting everybody together, you know, doing it in a healthy and health and wellness type of way.”
