Saturday, May 18th found me in the region I grew up to explore the 7th Annual Gluten Free Food Fair at the Deltaplex. Only in Grand Rapids would one section of the Expo space be a Gluten Free Expo and the other be a Magic: The Gathering event! =)

One of the things that makes this event so unique is that, it is sponsored and run by a church (Anchor Baptist Church) as an outreach they developed after discovering several members of their small (60 people) congregation have Celiac.  Since I wanted to learn a bit more about the event, I took a couple of minutes and spoke with Rachel Coin, the wife of the pastor and a super organizer.  The first couple years of the event it was held at Kuyper College and was free for vendors and guests.  In the last couple of years they started to charge vendors to attend, which then brought in more of the bigger names in the GF community.  This year was the largest event yet, with 62 vendors and over 2,000 attendees. What is truly humbling, and one of those rare examples of a group doing something out of the goodness of their hearts to give back when they saw a need, Anchor Baptist Church makes sure that the parking is free and there is no fee for people to attend.  The vendors are charged enough to cover the expo hall and associated fees, any left over money is set aside for next years event.  Many church members arrived at 7am to set-up, during the event they staffed or assisted at several booths, then helped with tear down.   Other volunteers were from the local Celiac Support Group.  So many volunteers from these two organizations, and they were the backbone of this entire event.  BRAVO!

She-Liac with the fantastic Rachel Coin of Anchor Baptist Church

This event saw the return of She-Liac!  One of the best things about her appearing is that it opens up conversations with people I might not get to talk to.  The costume is slowly being redesigned so that it is not so “Superman”-esque, but today she was rocking a fabulous tee by Celiac and the Beast.

2 things really impressed and surprised me about this event.

• The very visible presence of two major Grocery Store Chains:  Meijer and Spartan Stores.  The Meijers booth had their Black Bean and Salsa Tortilla chips, while the Spartan row had a small number of samples from many GF companies along with pasta and a couple items from their Full Circle brand.  I had a fun conversation with the rep from Meijers corporate office about some products/brands that would be great for the stores to have.  She had a list with suggestions from others, and it was great they were taking an interest in what the consumer was interested in seeing in store.
• A number of national chain restaurants had a presence at the expo:  Red Robin was handing out coupons and had a raffle for $20 gift certificates, Qdoba had the makings for a chicken bowl (rice, black beans, chicken, salsa, jalapeno, guacamole, sour cream, cheese) and had their allergen information and a coupon on a dinner, Zoup has soup, Outback Steak House had their chocolate thunder from down under (and a coupon for a free one!  Hello chocolate!),  and The Melting Pot was there with chocolate fondue and fruit.  Not to mention local restaurants Brann’s (yummy ribs and they had greens!) and the Gilmore Collection having a strong presence at the event.
  

  Melting Pot’s Chocolate Fondue with Fruit and the groovy guy putting it all together

After some thought, and consideration knowing my experiences in the area, I decided to attend as She-Liac.  I am still working on what to do with this character, but I wanted to see if she would be a success in Grand Rapids like she was in Chicago.  To change things up a little bit, I decided to wear one of the fabulous designs by Celiac and the Beast.  The shirt was a hit, and I think I talked some of the bakers to purchase her cupcake tee.  =)  It was a slow start to the day, and I got several funny looks, but as the day went on, vendors were taking my pictures, I started having conversations with kids (the highlight of my day), and I was actually asked to attend an event later in the year!

Ok, now on to what I KNOW you have all been looking forward to — My Expo Favorites!

I can now say that I have tasted award-winning pizza, and I want MORE!  Willy Olund, of Willy O’s Pizza and Grille won 1st prize in the United States and 2nd prize in the World in the non-traditional category at the 2010 International Pizza Expo in Las Vegas.  On top of that, at the 2 Mari in Lecce, Italy his gluten-free pizza was #1 in America!  His booth always had a line, and after tasting the pizza it was easy to see why!  Tasty, with a nice crunch, it left me wanting to make a stop in South Haven on my next trip through West Michigan.  Plus, Willy is a character, so you KNOW we hit it off in a big way!  Seriously, if you find yourself travelling along Lake Michigan in Michigan, make it a point to stop in and get one of these pies!  If you don’t think you will make it to Michigan, give them a call as they will ship their pies for you to bake.

Willy O, and his pizza, get a BIG thumbs up!

My next favorite thing goes to the West Michigan Whitecaps and 5/3 Ballpark.  Not only do they have a pretty extensive GF menu (but no buns), next to each item on the menu board there is a green “GF” sticker indicating which items are available Gluten Free.  More parks can learn from them!

In the GF bakery category, 3 bakeries got my attention.  The Sugar Bowl Bakery from Muskegon had these fantastic eclairs that made me think of my Grandma, who was wishing something like that was closer to her.  When they told me they only brought 50 packages with me, I should have jumped on it, instead of waiting to buy them when they were out.  D’oh!  The Flour Uprising in Mount Pleasant (Fire Up Chips!) does both GF and non-GF options.  In a long conversation with one of the owners, Annette, she informed me that all of their GF baking is done first thing in the morning and all of their GF baking supplies, pans and dishes included, are stored separately from everything else.  For $4(!) I purchased a tasty Peanut Butter Chocolate bar and a Chocolate Ginger scone.  My last winner in the bakery round is Ethel’s Edibles om St Clair Shores.  I really did not want to purchase any muffins or anything, but then I tried their Humming Bird muffin.  Oh.  My. Goodness!!  And then a big SQUEE!  Then maybe one other sound of joy as this touches your taste buds.  Imagine if you will a muffin containing the following:  pumpkin spice, pineapple, coconut and raisins, then cover it with an orange cream drizzle.  It is a surprise and wonder that I have not hoovered the four I purchased.

Looking over some of the items from The Flour Uprising

Yummy Humming Bird Muffins and other treats from Ethel’s Edibles

The last merchant is one that I met in Chicago, Keeki Pure and Simple.  I bite my nails and I am forever on a search for nail polish I can put on and then chip off.  It’s weird, I know.  I liked the 2 colors I purchased in Chicago along with the yummy tasting chapstick, so I wanted to pick up more.   This time I got a base coat, another nail color, and some of the Cherry Body Lotion.  A full review of what I tried is in the works, but it was fun to meet Keeki, the inspiration for the brand.  One of the silly asides from the event is, after purchasing my items, I left them on the Keeki table.  Of course, I did not realize it until I was back to my parents and went through everything.  Natalie, the CEO and Keeki’s mom, had her cell phone on her business card and met me at a local mall to give me what I had purchased — and she remembered the name of the nail polish even!  Thanks for the fantastic customer service, Natalie and Keeki!

She-Liac and Keeki, rocking the GF beauty products

One of the BEST things about the Expo was getting to meet up with a couple of friends.  At the Chicago Expo, I had the chance to meet Keeley McGuire.  Being a West Michigan girl, she came to the Expo with her mom and Little Miss.  It was such a joy to see her again and meet everyone.  I also got to catch up with Cece Otto, who was working for Schar while on a break from her American Songline journey along the Lincoln Highway.  If you can picture Kermit the Frog doing his crazy arm flailing, that was how I felt inside seeing these wonderful ladies.

She-Liac, Keeley, and the Little Miss

Cece and She-Liac activating their GF twin power

There were 2 downsides to the expo.  One is that one of my favorite brands had next to no presence at the event, and what they had was so ridiculous it was depressing.  The other is that this event emptied out around 2pm after being super busy.  I had honestly never seen anything like that!

Bravo to Anchor Baptist Church for putting together another successful event and here is to many more!