By Anna Skinner
People with food allergies, specifically Celiac disease or gluten intolerances, will have a safe place to sample food at the fifth annual Indianapolis Gluten Free Food Allergy Festival, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 29 and Oct. 30, at the Indiana State Fairgrounds, 1202 E. 38th St., Indianapolis.
“Our main goal is to be a resource for people who are new to the gluten free lifestyle. It’s a huge learning curve,” Public Relations and Marketing Director Lindsey Bockhorst, of Fishers, said. “We have some exhibitors and speeches and lectures that cater to other food allergies, as well. It’s really for people to go taste products and sample things before purchasing it in a store. There are lectures throughout the weekend, different people talking about new research and stage cooking demos for people who are new to the lifestyle. The gluten free world is really exploding with new products on the market.”
Bockhorst became involved with the festival when her husband was an exhibitor and she assisted with public relations. She eventually became the festival’s public relations and marketing director.
Exhibitors include Udi’s, Cheerios, Glutino’s, among others. And with the festival being the weekend before Halloween, kids can have some fun, too.
“Each kid that comes is getting a Halloween trick-or-treating bag, and each exhibitor is doing a gluten free trick-or-treat,” Bockhorst said.
Tickets are $15 for the day or $25 for the weekend. Lectures are included in the price, as well as a bag visitors can use to collect samples from the exhibitors.
“Our lectures and demos really make us unique,” Bockhorst said. “That’s probably one of the biggest differences. And also we’ve got an amazing showcase of local exhibitors and the really big players in the game, like Udi’s, so it’s a really wide range of different exhibitors, too.”
For more, visit gffafest.com.
