Friday, Feb. 5 is National Wear Red Day, and the ladies of Seeland Park and St. Francis Manor, a retirement home tucked in the eastern corner of Grinnell, are celebrating it with a fashion show. This day was started by the American Heart Association in order to bring awareness to the risk of heart disease among women.

This is the second annual fashion show held by Seeland Park.

“They loved it!” said Kristin Kahn, Seeland Park’s Fitness Specialist. “People were actually requesting that we do another one because they had so much fun the first time we did it.”

Eight women, ranging in age from lower sixties to nineties, were individually invited by Kahn to participate in this event.

“A lot of times we have the same people always doing everything in the community,” Kahn said, “so my goal is to get other people who aren’t as involved in the community to be a part of this event.”

The ladies will model outfit ensembles they coordinated themselves, which include red pieces of clothing borrowed from the Christopher & Banks clothing store.

“I asked some gals what were some of the popular clothing stores that I could contact, and that was one of the ones that they had mentioned,” Kahn said. “So I decided to go with what they like and what they are comfortable with.”

Two weeks before the fashion show, Kahn and the models went to a Christopher & Banks store in Marshalltown to do a fashion show fitting and choose what clothing they wanted to wear.

“The ladies picked out stuff that they would wear outside the program,” said Bobbie Deeter, a resident of Seeland Park. “If I were to purchase [my outfit], I would.”

Despite the event being called “Wear Red Day Fashion Show,” the ensembles that the ladies will be modeling are not entirely red.

“I didn’t want to wear just bright red. The Christopher [&] Banks people also wanted some variety,” said Wilma Wilson, a resident who has lived at Seeland Park for ten years. “I chose a pair of navy blue jeans with a navy blue top and a red sweater and a scarf.”

The audience however, is encouraged to don as much red as they can to win the “Razzle Dazzle Red Woman” prize.

“A lot of them get dressed up to the nines with hats, gloves, and watches—everything they have is red,” Kahn said. “It kind of turns into a competition to see who can get as crazy as they can, so that’s a lot of fun.”

In addition to creating a space for the residents of Seeland Park to socialize and enjoy themselves, the fashion show aimed to highlight some measures the home takes to keep its residents healthy.

“[There are] a lot of exercise classes, and if you take advantage of it I think it makes you strong,” Deeter said.
She herself attends the classes at least four times a week.

American Heart Association“I think Seeland Park does a really good job doing preventative health care.”