RUMFORD – The place to be in the River Valley on Saturday was Mountain Valley High School for the second annual River Valley Expo.

Hundreds of vendors representing most of the businesses in the River Valley proudly and enthusiastically told thousands of visitors about their business.

Deanne Rothwell exhibited the many faces of scrapbooking, emphasizing photo preservation.

She also encouraged adding journals to the scrapbooks to record the emotions behind the photos to make the memory complete Rothwell works from her home and holds workshops in Rumford to teach others the art of scrapbooking.

Jane Peterson sat at the Rumford Historical booth spinning Columbia sheep wool into yarn. She buys the wool locally from a Buckfield sheep farm.

Patricia Drakus of Eagles Auxiliary was in the Hospice Program booth, knitting a shawl for the program.

Louise Arsenault, recently selected as volunteer of the year from the town of Mexico, bubbled over in her enthusiasm as she told how the town had a brainstorming session to consider ways to improve their community. Saying 55 people attended, Arsenault pointed to a large board cataloging most of the things that were mentioned.

She also noted what already has been accomplished.

“The people wanted a Farmers Market. We started one. They wanted a place where they could give clothing to the needy. We set up a place,” she said.

A popular spot, especially near the lunch hour, was Hannafords free food bar, which featured savory pork strips, fresh fruit and other snacks.

The busiest place seemed to be Living Well in the River Valley. Not only could attendees get a free blood pressure check from Rumford Hospital, but they could watch a demonstration by Dr. Angella Roberts on activator methods in chiropractic wellness care.

In addition, the Newstart Lifestyle booth sponsored by the Seventh Day Adventist church of Rumford, saw hundreds of people filling out forms on their lifestyles. The information went into a computer, which produced respondents’ present Health Age and their Potential Health Age if the personal recommendations were followed.

The Dowland family came to see what was available in the area and said they were very much impressed with what they saw. And there was much to see.

The aisles were crowded as people greeted each other with smiles and laughter. Baskets filled rapidly with cards for prize drawings.

Outside the building, under sunny skies, were the booths that needed more room to show off Artic cat snowmobiles, four-wheelers, pools, spas and merchandise.