Alternative Expo may become norm in Tucson

The hall floor was crowded with these booths Friday, Saturday and yesterday when the TCC was home to the Natural Choices Expo '97.

The Expo is one of the first in the country to combine the themes of environmentalism and integrative medicine.

Vendors from as far away as Canada traveled to Tucson to show their wares on the floor of the hall. Booths belonging to aura readers and faith healers were side by side with booths representing such groups as the University Medical Center and Tucson Botanical Gardens.

"You've got a wide mixture and just trying to decipher between what's real and what's not is interesting," said University of Arizona nutrition graduate student Nicole Ayan who sampled many of the booths at the fair.

From the fantastic to the novel to the original, vendors bought space at the Expo in the hopes of widening their market base.

A California-based mail order health food company Quest for the Best rented a van and drove in from San Diego for the Expo. They attend a variety of Expos around the year to meet their target market, explained company representative Cynthia Marshall while treating her gastric distress by circling light from a slender, laser-like wand over her belly.

"I do Expos all over the country and it's nice to have one in our own state," said another vendor Pamela Golden who drove in from Yarnell to advertise her acupuncture points stimulator.

Interspersed among the vendors were a smattering of nonprofit organizations like AIDSWALK and Literacy Volunteers of Pima County. Their booth space was purchased by donations from businesses and medical organizations.

This donor aspect of the Expo can serve as a model for other Expos around the country, said Expo co-director Mikaela Rierson.

Developments in the field of environmentally sustainable technologies like hay bale housing and electric cars also were on display.

Another facet of the Expo brought together national and local speakers who discussed topics related to alternative medicine and environmentally sustainable technologies. They drew crowds eager to learn of these fields, which were touted as part of the changing face of medicine today.

"Integrative medicine and alternative health will influence the way medicine is taught and practiced," said physician Andrew Weil, one of the leading authorities in the field of integrative medicine. Weil is the director of the Program in Integrative Medicine at the University Medical Center.

Physiological science sophomore Simone Porter found the Expo a source of valuable information.

"I want to be a doctor and I think the whole nature of alternative medicine and homeopathic remedies is really important Ü I don't think people stress the importance of alternative remedies enough," Porter said.

Though official totals for ticket sales and revenues generated will not be available until later today, Expo co-director Jim Ricker said attendance met the directors' "optimistic" expectations by the close of Saturday.

Of 300 booth spaces available, 282 were sold at $550 per booth and $300 per half-booth.

The directors intend the Natural Choices Expo to be an annual event and have already tentatively set a date for the next Expo Ü October 1998.