The Kroger Wellness Festival is the largest free health and wellness festival in the United States. It will offer thousands of attendees two days of health and wellness experiences and education, food, live music and more at The Banks in Cincinnati on Sept. 22 and 23.
And, once again, Kroger has teamed with Advantage Solutions to produce the event, which is expected to draw more than 150,000 attendees and feature a host of big-name celebrities, including Venus Williams, Cameron Diaz, John Cena and Peyton and Eli Manning.
“The Kroger Wellness Festival is designed to help people live healthier lives through food and nutrition, which is a mission that Advantage is proud and excited to be part of and support,” says Andrea Young, chief operating officer of experiential services for Advantage. “We are thrilled to partner with Kroger again to help bring this signature event to life in a way that connects with Kroger’s customers and reflects our own values.”
This year’s festival will showcase more than 175 experiences and food offerings focused on six core pillars of transformation: balance, move, breathe, care, uplift and play. Attendees can participate in fitness activities, panel discussions, cooking demos, exhibitions, classes and live music across six stages. The full schedule is available here.
“At Kroger, we believe in the power of food as medicine and are committed to helping people live healthier lives in the communities that we serve,” says Colleen Lindholz, president of Kroger Health. “The Kroger Wellness Festival reflects this commitment and our vision to change the way people eat in the country. We are excited to bring a weekend full of resources that encourage heathy living, while also offering a family-friendly atmosphere with fun activities and events.”
Advantage, through its experiential services division, handles everything from sponsorship sales through fulfillment, retail integration, merchandising management, VIP experiences, talent procurement and management, programming and production, marketing and PR, digital asset management, operations vendor procurement, pre-event and on-site operations, safety and security, and year-round communication with Kroger and sponsors.
“We are extremely proud to produce this festival to advance Kroger Health’s Food as Medicine strategy,” says Lisa Haubner, Advantage’s vice president of customer experience. “Our small team works around the clock to ensure our sponsors and festival goers have a unique and rewarding experience. Attendees learn about better-for-you options while enjoying educational and entertaining programs.”
“At times it is challenging to manage all of the moving pieces for the more than 175 sponsors, programming for six stages, talent and our vendor partners that build stages, tents, provide security and all the other elements of an event that you really don’t think about when you are enjoying a concert or festival,” Haubner says. “We like to say that that there is no magic wand that makes it just appear, but we have the right people in place to make an event magical.”
This year’s festival also includes the first-ever Nourishing Change Summit, an invitation-only event Advantage is producing on Sept. 23 featuring leaders from multiple sectors who will discuss food as medicine and how different groups can work together to drive positive change in their communities.
“The Nourishing Change Summit is the next step in an initiative that grew out of Kroger’s involvement at the 2022 White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health,” says Haubner. “It illustrates their commitment to improving health through food as medicine for generations to come.”
Advantage will have more than 30 leaders and associates on site for the festival weekend, including CEO Dave Peacock. Several Advantage leaders will also appear on panels and in programming.
Headlining the festival are two free concerts, with Barenaked Ladies performing on Friday, and Flo Rida wrapping up the event Saturday. Other celebrities slated to appear include football greats Peyton and Eli Manning; tennis legend Venus Williams; actress and co-founder of Avaline Wine Cameron Diaz; actor and professional wrestler John Cena; and celebrity chef and Blue Diamond culinary partner Amanda Freitag.
The Kroger Wellness Festival takes place at The Banks in Cincinnati Sept. 22-23 from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. For more information, visit the festival’s site.