Folks past the half-century mark in life haven’t peaked yet and still have their primes waiting ahead of them.
That was the message Saturday to those who attended The Blade’s Prime Living Expo at the SeaGate Centre, where vendors set up exhibits and speakers gave seminars about how to maximize those prime years.
“I’d like to think I’m living in my prime,” 88-year-old Jed Hazel of Perrysburg said with a laugh. “I came to check out all the different programs and see what they’re about.”
Attendees like Chuck Smith of Holland, who plans to retire at the end of the year, saw the event as informational.
“You never know what kind of nuggets of knowledge you can take with you,” said Mr. Smith.
Mr. Smith and his wife, Terry, a retired high school librarian, are planning to use their free time to travel.
“I’m just waiting for him to retire and then we’ll take on the world,” Ms. Smith said.
But for other retirees past their initial waves of excitement about newfound freedom, time-fillers become a daily battle.
At noon, financial adviser Matthew Williams discussed the “sugar rush” concept with retirees, detailing that after the first period of retirement, which consists of urges to travel and be active in the community, retired folks often get bogged down with how to fill time in their lives.
“You guys are living that idea that you don’t have to set that alarm clock each morning,” Mr. Williams said during his seminar. “The problem is how do we fill that time? In retirement, we don’t have that job to go back to.”
Denise Sprague, a business relations coordinator with the Better Business Bureau, set up an exhibit where she detailed scams for inquisitive seniors.
“Our phone rings all day long,” said Ms. Sprague. “It’s people asking if this is a scam or if that’s a scam. And 99 percent of the time, it is. So, we spend a lot of time educating people on recent scams going around.”
Blade Food Editor Mary Bilyeu showed attendees how to transition from cooking for a large family to downsizing recipes to fit the needs of just one or two people with a cooking demonstration of a simple mushroom minestrone with gnocchi. Ms. Bilyeu cooked with ingredients from Walt Churchill's Market and also demonstrated how to make two desserts: Banana N’ Brown Sugar Sundaes and Skillet Berry Crisps.
“The demographic is pretty much my age and older,” she said. “So, a lot of times, they’re empty-nesters, they’re people who are maybe just cooking for two, because the kids have all grown. Or they’re cooking just for themselves, maybe divorced, maybe they’ve been widowed. And it’s really hard to down-size and scale down recipes, especially if they’ve been used to cooking for a large family.
”I think it’s important to cook for yourself,” Ms. Bilyeu added. “I’m all for supporting our local restaurants and establishments, takeout places, there’s nothing wrong with that. But, that also gets expensive and if you’ve got somebody who’s on a fixed income, you want to be sure that they’re still going to be eating well.”
Blade Outdoors Editor Matt Markey detailed in a seminar how the outdoors provide something for everyone in the family.
Mr. Markey said outdoor activities shouldn’t just extend to immediate families, adding that older folks can have memorable experiences with their grandchildren by planning outdoor events.
“With so many houses that have parents doing one thing or another, it often falls on the grandparents to introduce these kids to the outdoors,” he said. “And that’s a role they should accept with great pleasure.”
Saturday marked the event’s first year. Red Barrett, The Blade’s director of sales, said the expo was intended to help people 50 and older to find ways to maximize their living. She said “empty-nesters” shouldn’t feel like they can’t live in their prime.
“It’s a great way for that segment of our community to be directly connected one-on-one with those folks that run those businesses that can help connect the things that they want,” Ms. Barrett said.
Her message to seniors seeking fulfilling lives and folks inching toward retirement: “You earned it. You deserve it. It’s time. It is your prime, focus and invest in the things that make you happy.”
First Published September 7, 2019, 8:14 p.m.
