I see...A Women's Expo!

Trying to act as a supportive husband, I was one of only a few men at the Women's Lifestyle Expo at the Salem Civic Center last weekend. The boon was that some of the talbes set up featuring everything from vitamin juice to support bras had fun-size candy bars or - at the least - mints and pens.

Sure, there wasn't much there that was supposed to appeal to me, and - sure enough - nothing did. Luckily, we got in free thanks to some compt tickets from my mother, who was working one of the booths.

All were overshadowed, however, by the psychic offering free "private" readings, though there were a solid twenty people hovering about her divination podium. The line for her readings was at least 50 people long, and while I don't know how long Madam Whatshername was devoting to each person, waiting in that line must have been a 90-minute commitment if it was a second.
I'm not sure how the center measures success: whether it's based on how well the vendors do, too.

But if based on attendance alone, they must have been happy with the expo, because it was rather full. Filled enough to make anything worth looking at require queuing and waiting your turn (save for the aforementioned psychic, whose service has a worth measured in relative naivete).

It was actually done up rather well - hardly comparable to when there's a gun show or the horse show, but feeling rather appropriate for the occasion. I just hope that amid all the tea leaf reading, attendants made time to check out some of the health booths, which seemed fairly in earnest if a little trendy.

All in all, if the same event took place for men, I'd very likely pay the $5 entry fee. Though I'd certainly expect the fun-size candy bars as compensation just in case.