Photos sent by Tate Blanchard IC Care Staff at the 24th Annual Senior Support Fair at the Ohio Valley Mall on Tuesday afternoon. Pictured from left to right, Stephanie Sauvageot, Registered Nurse and Owner of IC Care, Tate Blanchard, Chief Development Officer of The IC Group, and Sherrie Dunlevy, Marketing Liaison for IC Care.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — The Belmont County Adult Services Coalition hosted its 24th Senior Support Fair on Tuesday afternoon.

The annual fair takes place at the Ohio Valley Mall and is always on the first Tuesday of May. It takes place in May because that is when Older Americans Month is observed.

“The mall is a great, convenient location that’s easy for folks to get to with ample parking,” event Chairman Tate Blanchard said.

According to the Administration for Community Living: “Every May, the Administration for Community Living leads the nation’s observance of Older Americans Month (OAM), a time to recognize older Americans’ contributions, highlight aging trends, and reaffirm commitments to serving the older adults in our communities.”

The fair’s goal is to be a one-stop shop for senior citizens of the Ohio Valley to come to gather resources.

According to the event organizers, this year’s fair is the most successful one that they have hosted yet. The fair had about 50 vendors on hand offering resources and information to the residents of the Ohio Valley.

“We saw close to 300 people that came through and took advantage of the fair that was here at the Ohio Valley Mall,” Blanchard said.

One of the vendors at the fair Tuesday was Trinity Health System of Steubenville. Trinity set up free health screenings so the attendees could receive blood pressure readings.

“Doing the free health screenings at events like ours have been proven to save lives,”

Blanchard noted.

He added that there have been multiple instances when people would do the free health screening at such events and discover that they have high blood pressure, allowing them to follow up with their physician.