The idea to host a Women and Girls Health Awareness Carnival in Walla Walla struck Pam Warren, Executive Director of the Blue Mountain Heart to Heart last June.   Warren wanted the event to coincide with National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day on March 10.   The carnival was held Saturday, Mar. 7 at the Walla Walla Authority Gymnasium, with free admission to the public.

A one-time event combining games, prizes and entertainment with public speakers and booths run by local businesses, the carnival’s main purpose was to promote communication, said coordinator Jill Dickey.   “Our goal is to educate women and girls in our community about health, with a focus on preventing not only HIV, but also diabetes and other chronic illnesses,” Dickey said in an e-mail

To fund the event, Warren applied for a grant for Blue Mountain Heart-to-Heart from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’s Office on Women’s Health.

“We were awarded $3,000, and decided to have a carnival because we hoped it would appeal to girls to attend an event with a fun theme,” said Dickey.   Participants included Planned Parenthood, YWCA, Mary Kay Cosmetics, Pinnick Acupuncture, College Place Chiropractic and WW Chiropractic, among many other venders stationed at 14 different booths.