The Karla Adams Health and Fitness Fair is an annual event celebrated throughout Riverside since July, 23rd, 2011. The first Health & Fitness Fair was a huge success and included various health-oriented vendors, fitness games, and activities for adults and children alike. The fruit-eating contest between Riverside Honorable Mayor Ron Loveridge, Councilman Rusty Bailey, Councilman Andy Melendrez, and Karla Adams drew huge crowds. Building on the success of the first fair, key relationships with the Riverside Community Health Foundation (RCHF) and Riverside Community Hospital (RCH) have now been established. The momentum created by these partnerships has sustained a campaign to influence area residents to become a more fit and healthy community.

In early 2012, Dan Anderson, president of RCHF approached the City of Riverside to launch the Fit, Fresh & Fun Forum. This campaign was comprised of local professionals of profit and non-profit organizations that work together to elicit a healthy environment encouraging residents to seek Fit, Fresh, and Fun alternatives for a healthy lifestyle. Out of this came the Start R.I.G.H.T. Campaign. The purpose of the campaign is to lower the overall body fat in Riverside by 50 percent within the next 5 years. The Karla Adams Foundation activities are an integral part of the Start R.I.G.H.T. Campaign.

Because of the Fit, Fresh & Fun Forum, Cherie Russell, Marketing for Riverside Community Hospital, and Karla Adams Corporation, are collaborating on a series of health fair projects. The Karla Adams Foundation hosted the Kid’s Fitness Zone at the Hospital’s Health Fair held June 9, 2011. In return, the hospital provided medical screenings at the Karla Adam’s Health Fair in October of 2012.

The 2nd annual Karla Adam’s Health Fair of 2012 was held at the Riverside Plaza. We had three motivational speakers: Kimberly Castle, Mary Newton, and Hannah Torres.
Kimberly Castle’s weight and fat loss success story was featured on the cover of Oxygen Magazine. Mary Newton is a breast cancer survivor who has made life changes to support keeping her remission at bay. Hannah Torres, at 14 years of age, is already an advocate for health and fitness to teens, and was named Miss Orange Coast Jr. Teen of 2013. Activities that made the Health Fair of 2012 a success include eco screening by Riverside Community Hospital, a blood drive, a UCR rock wall, a bike rodeo, healthy food tasting with demos by Inland Empire Chef Association, kids’ fitness and activity zones, the Spray-On Ab Contest, kids’ Halloween costume contest, fruit-eating contest with Honorable Mayor Ron Loveridge and state Assembly Jose Media, fitness demonstrations by local companies, music and prizes every hour, and vendors with a plethora of health information. The Miss Riverside Fitness Pageant & “It’s a Lifestyle” Challenge were introduced in 2013 and the Little Miss Fit Fitness Pageant was introduced in 2014.

In 2014, we launched our first series of motivational events with fitness camps as the check points entailing fitness celebrities, Mike O’Hearn, from American Gladiator and Oxygen Cover Model, Sherlyn Roy. The Health & Fitness Fair of 2014 was a red carpet event where spectators took pictures with our fitness celerity judges and political representatives. Our pageant contestants where judged by a panel of well-known fitness celebrities. We had Zumba and hula girl demonstrations and girl scouts earned their badges. We also introduced the Little Miss Fit Pageant where girls ages 6-13 took the stage to inspire other young girls to make healthy food choices and stay active as a lifestyle.

In 2015 we launched the Karla Adams Foundation. Are first years with our event where under the Riverside Community Health Foundations 501 C3. In early 2016 we opened up our own location with much more accommodation for putting on our events and challenges.
We are looking forward to the excitement of this year’s event and hope you will become a part of this wonderful movement happening in Riverside.