Seniors in Beaufort County braved the rain early Thursday to participate in the 2016 Beaufort County Senior Expo, held at Beaufort County Community College.

Participants were exposed to a variety of activities, including a “Stories of the Underground Railroad” presentation by Leesa Jones, songs from Care-O-World children dressed as their future occupation of choice, information from Fitness Unlimited, free manicures in the cosmetology building and an opportunity to complete advanced directives.

This year’s theme was “Past, Present and Future,” with the Underground Railroad stories representing the past, agency vendors as the present and Care-O-World children the future, according to Courtney Mitchell, chairperson for the Beaufort County Senior Expo Planning Committee.

Mitchell said this year was another successful one, bringing in about 200 seniors, from Washington and beyond. The event has been going on for more than 10 years, she said.

“We just tried to think of a theme that we hadn’t done before,” Mitchell said. “We had 43 different vendors set up, and they were all different kinds of agencies.”

She said the vendors, who were charged a fee to cover the costs of running the rest of the event, were able to give away information about their respective agencies, as well as offer free massages and health screenings for blood pressure and intraocular (eye) pressure.

Participants were provided with lunch at the BCCC campus café and free transportation between buildings, courtesy of Beaufort Area Transit System, Mitchell said. Seniors also had no qualms about jamming to the live music by Pamlico Sound Machine.

“We had some seniors dancing and having a good time,” Mitchell said. “Despite the weather, we still had, you know, a large turnout.”

The idea was to provide fun activities for county seniors, while also connecting them to needed information and resources — a goal she said she thinks was accomplished.