Women's Show offers treats, health-care information

Demonstrations, displays and novelty items were available for women of all ages at the 15th annual Women's Show this past weekend at the Show Me Center.

The event featured more than 100 different booths with everything from cooking demonstrations and health information to massages and manicures.

Meg Davis, coordinator of the Women's Show, said the goal of this year's event was to make it appeal to women of all ages.

"I wanted it to be something that would be enjoyable for me as well as my mom," she said. "There are so many different booths here that it's like 100 shops all in one place."

Local hospitals were performing health screenings and answering women's health concerns.

"The health screenings were very informative," Davis said. "For instance, I don't know if I'm at risk for something like a stroke. The hospitals were very helpful giving that information out."

Debbie Nicol of Cape Girardeau and her daughter, Amy Graham, have been attending the Women's Show since it first began.

"It gives you a lot of information that you wouldn't normally come across," Nicol said.

The mother and daughter picked up free samples at the various booths and tasted some of the food offered from cooking demonstrations.

Massages and pedicures

Some of the more popular activities included free massages, facials and pedicures offered by area spas and salons.

Spa 151 owner Ashli Rowland attended the Women's Show for the first time and used it to help promote her store which opened recently.

"We've been so busy," she said in between manicures. "It's been really great, though. The women seem to be enjoying themselves."

The "head tingler" was used to perform head massages at Jennifer McCord's booth, which provided information about home spas. A long handle with metal prongs on one end was being rubbed on heads throughout the weekend.

"They love the head massages, especially if they've never done them before," McCord said. "This whole event has been a great way for people to find out about services they didn't know existed."

Elizabeth Propst, 15, of Cape Girardeau, attended the Women's Show with her mother and aunt.

"It's been fun, I liked getting information about pets and just walking around getting samples of stuff," she said.

Her aunt, Pat Grebe, said that going to the Women's Show was the only thing she's done in a long time without her husband.

"It's been good girlfriend time," Grebe said.

Davis said the Women's Show was well-attended over the weekend.

"It was just a weekend for moms, daughters and grandmothers to come out for a good time and get some valuable information," she said.

jfreeze@semissourian.com