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The Family Room and Demonstration Kitchen

In today’s busy society, it can be a challenge to find time to spend with family and friends. This year the Family Room offers a variety of interactive displays that will get you thinking about the overall health and wellness of you and your family. Healthy eating, physical activity, keeping food safe and understanding how to take care of ourselves, are all part of both good physical and mental health. Exhibits in the Family Room focusing on health and well-being include Naturally Flavored Water, LIFT or Lifelong Improvements with Fitness Together, and Understanding Alzheimer's Disease: Know the Warning Signs. The crowd favorite Cooking Demonstrations return with family friendly recipes prepared before your eyes with a chance to taste test before making at home. Additionally, you can learn about a new program, Let's Cook With Extension, aimed at expanding your cooking and eating horizons. When it comes to safety, Food Safety and Home Preservation in the home will be featured as well as Pest Control in Your Home. If you are looking for a way to stay active in your community, be sure to visit and learn about our Master Health and Wellness Volunteer Activities.
The Family Room and Demonstration Kitchen

Where: Main Street between West 8th and 9th St

The following College of Agriculture Penn State Extension program teams sponsor the exhibits: Food, Families and Health, Food Safety & Quality, Nutrition Links, Pesticide Education and Penn State University Police Community Education Program.

Displays and Activities will include the following:

  • Naturally Flavored Water – Visitors can taste water flavored with fruit and learn the importance of water in their daily diet. Get ideas to easily and inexpensively make your own flavored water.
  • Cooking Demonstrations - Watch as recipes are prepared each hour to learn new recipes, nutrition tips for preparing healthy meals, and food safety facts. Sample the resulting fare and receive a copy of the featured recipe.
  • Home Food Preservation and Consumer Food Safety - In celebration of National Food Safety Month in September, Penn State Food Safety Specialists and Master Food Preservation Volunteers will provide research-based information and fun children and adult hands-on activities demonstrating how to safely store foods in the refrigerator and preserve foods at home. 
  • Home Food Preservation and Consumer Food Safety - In celebration of National Food Safety Month in September, Penn State Food Safety Specialists and Master Food Preservation Volunteers will provide research based information and children’s activities on how to safely prepare and preserve foods at home. 
  • Master Health and Wellness Volunteers  - Our volunteers have a desire to help others while extending the efforts of our Educators within local communities.  Through training,  volunteers are prepared to work in the community giving presentations, food demonstrations, assisting at health fairs, meetings and other outreach events. Visit the Family Room to learn more about this opportunity.
  • LIFT – Lifelong Improvements with Fitness Together - As we get older, we begin to lose strength resulting in muscle weakness and difficulty moving. When this happens, physical activity slows, and we become more sedentary. The good news is this does not need to happen! LIFT helps older adults improve strength, flexibility, balance and improve overall health. Visit us and learn how this program can help you!
  • Let’s Cook with Extension! - From a Pennsylvania Dutch kitchen to Southeast Asia and all points in between, we’re talking meals that stick to your ribs and engage the mind and adventurous spirit of everyone at your table. Stop by to learn more about this fun and educational program that will help you cook with confidence!
  • Understanding Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia: Know the 10 Signs - Do you know how to recognize possible dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease as compared to the normal signs of aging? In partnership with the Alzheimer’s Association, Penn State Extension can help you with new ideas and ways to keep your brain and body healthy to prevent dementia. Be sure to visit the Family Room to learn more about brain health!
  • Step Up Your Pest Control - Visitors to the Pesticide Education Program (PEP) exhibit will learn ways they can step up their pest control using Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategies. Control options include cultural, mechanical, biological, and, when needed, chemical. Put a little PEP in your STEP and stop by to learn about managing unwanted pests.