On April 28, from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., more than 3,000 people gathered at the Oakdale Theatre for the second annual Gluten-Free Expo hosted by Gluten-Free New England, an organization founded by Abby Helman Kelly to connect gluten-free customers and gluten-free businesses. The event brought together 78 allergy-friendly vendors and four food trucks for a day of seminars, food samples, and informative talks.
Most vendors provided samples to attendees from their booths inside the theater, while food trucks showcased their products outside. The vendors at the event offered samples of products that were free of gluten or other common food allergens, such as shellfish and dairy. Mrs. Abby Helman Kelly and her husband Mr. Tom Kelly were the main organizers behind the exhibition. Mrs. Kelly said, “Our main goal of today was to bring local and national brands together so people can sample and discover new products and have a day for themselves.”
Vendors presented a variety of products. Some vendors showcased drinks, fitness programs, and food samples. One organization advertised a children’s summer camp with a gluten-free designated kitchen. Two seminars on gluten-free lifestyles were held. One talk focused on how to heal the gut from gluten sensitivity, while another talk demonstrated how to create gluten-free Play-Doh. The food trucks outside offered a fresh variety of gluten-free food and drinks.
Attending the expo were two “gold” vendors, the largest and most well-known vendors. One was Enjoy Life Foods, an allergy-friendly food company based in Jeffersonville, Indiana. The company sells gluten-free products to retail stores such as CVS, Stop & Shop, and Walmart. All of its products are also free from tree nuts and peanuts. Ms. Dawn Niderno, head of the booth for Enjoy Life
Foods, said, “We’re trying to reach out to our community of consumers who have a sensitivity or allergies. So many people have problems with food sensitivity, and we want to make sure everyone has a chance to be familiar with our brand and have access to quality food, regardless of limitations. Almost anyone who comes to us has a food allergy or is gluten-free.”
Planning the gluten free expo was no small task. “The entire process was very tedious. I’m a big detail person — there are just a bunch of details and time. It’s not hard necessarily; there’s just a lot of time and effort that goes into the event,” Mrs. Kelly said. Each of the 78 vendors and 4 food trucks had to arrive at least an hour before the start of the event in order to prepare their booths accordingly.
Ms. Niderno said, “It’s a very long process. We have to order products and everything else we need to set up a booth. We also work with a marketing team to plan for how many samplings we need. We find out how many consumers [will attend the event] and base it off that. Once we get here in the morning and get the booth number, the products are shipped in on palates.”
Mrs. Kelly began her gluten-free endeavors in 2016 when she founded the Gluten-Free Connecticut organization. She organized her gluten-free events at a smaller venue in Bristol before moving to the Oakdale Theatre in 2017. In 2018, she decided to expand to the rest of New England and rename her organization Gluten-Free New England. Mrs. Kelly founded her organization to support everyone who is gluten-free or has some form of sensitivity to food. “We want our community to know that Gluten-Free New England is committed,” she said. “We don’t do it for the money. We live here, and we are doing it for the community. It’s what I like to provide to the world.”
