DON’T STOP BELIEVING

Vitamin Angels Celebrates 15 Years and 15 Million Children at Celebration of Angels Fundraiser

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Vitamin Angels and New Hope Natural Media are joining together to host the

largest industry-wide event at Expo East to save the lives of children worldwide.

Lack of essential nutrients is responsible for one-third of all maternal and child deaths worldwide.

Vitamin Angels closes that gap by partnering with natural product companies to obtain the vitamins and

funding to reach millions of children under the age of five, and pregnant or lactating mothers worldwide.

Vitamin Angels will host its annual Celebration of Angels fundraiser on Friday, September 25, from 6:00-

9:00 p.m. at the Boston Convention Center, Grand Ballroom, to coincide with the Natural Products Expo

East. This year’s free event invites attendees to experience the difference they and their companies can

make by partnering with Vitamin Angels in this global health initiative that benefits millions of children

and proves that vital nutrients save lives.

This year, Vitamin Angels will celebrate their 15th anniversary and the 15 million children they plan to

reach in 2010 with industry partners. Attendees will have an opportunity to donate in an interactive

festival setting with live music and entertainment. A special performance by one of the most sought after

Journey tribute bands, Captured, will make Celebration of Angels an experience like no other at Expo

East this year.

“We are excited to give everyone at Expo East the opportunity to have fun, get involved and learn about

the children we serve,” says Howard Schiffer, founder of Vitamin Angels. “This year’s event will allow

attendees to see why 25 cents is the most important, life-saving contribution these children need from

them this year.”

Vitamin Angels’ Celebration of Angels event would not be possible without the generous support of

sponsors like: New Hope Natural Media, The Organic Center, Vitamin Shoppe, Purity Products, Lightlife,

Lonza, Pure Encapsulations, Healthwell Ventures, Presence Marketing, UNFI, To Go Brands, Inc., New

Chapter Organics, Whole Foods Magazine, Organic India, Perrigo, Novus and Vitaquest. For more

information about Celebration of Angels including sponsorship opportunities visit:

www.VitaminAngels.org/COA-4.

BOULDER, Colo. (July 2, 2009) — New Hope Natural Media recently released its Natural Foods Merchandiser 2008 Market Overview, revealing a nearly 10 percent overall growth of the natural products industry. The movers and shakers of this resilient industry are looking forward to the next big event, Natural Products Expo East/Organic Products Expo-BioFach America (www.expoeast.com), Sept. 23-26, 2009, a trade event held in Boston, Mass. at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center (BCEC).

According to the NFM 2008 Market Overview, the northeast continues to lead the nation in natural product sales, boasting 19.7 percent of all natural product retailer sales in 2008. Natural product retailers account for 47 percent of the $68 billion industry in the U.S. Retailers continue to lead the charge with plans to open new stores in 2009, ensuring further growth. “With continued growth in the northeast coupled with the projected expansion of natural food retailers, Expo East will continue to provide the trade platform for building upon positive momentum,” said Erica Stone, show manager, Natural Products Expo East.

Newsworthy additions at Expo East 2009:

• World Tea East™: The new regional conference and pavilion will be co-located at Expo East and will host the World Tea Championship Winners Tasting on the evening of Sept. 23rd

• Urban Farm Tour: This year’s new farm tour visits Garden Girl Farms, a sustainable urban farm in the heart of Boston, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 10:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.

• The FDA honors New Hope Natural Media Standards Department: Awarded for their diligence of strict standards followed in screening exhibitors at Natural Products Expo East and ensuring that information presented in all their publications and events is compliant with FDA, USDA and the FTC guidelines

EDITOR’S NOTE:

Credentialed editorial staff meeting strict press guidelines may register online at www.expoeast.com/media.

Natural Products Expo East is open to a professional audience of manufacturers, buyers and industry members. It is NOT open to the general public.

For more information on the NFM 2008 Market Overview or Natural Products Expo East please contact: lisa@freshideasgroup.com

Contact: Lisa Conover, The Fresh Ideas Group

(303) 449-2108, ext. 12, lisa@freshideasgroup.com

New Hope Natural Media (www.newhope.com), a division of Penton Media Inc., is the leading media resource and information provider for the natural, organic and healthy products industry, with print, in-person/event, and e-business products and services.

As a leading, independent, business-to-business media company, Penton knows business and how to create and disseminate the vital content that moves markets. Penton serves the information needs of more than six million business professionals every month in industries ranging from Agriculture and Aviation to Electronics, Natural Products, and Information Technology. With the majority of the company’s properties ranked the #1 or #2 information source for their respective industries, Penton is where professionals turn to gain the critical insight, expert analysis, and relevant connections needed to compete and succeed. Headquartered in New York City, the privately held company is owned by MidOcean Partners and U.S. Equity Partners II, an investment fund sponsored by Wasserstein & Co., LP, and its co-investors. For additional information on the company and its businesses, visit www.penton.com.

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Is it cheesy to say “This just in…”? Well, sometimes, that is the truth. Check out the news on our latest co-location efforts:

World Tea Launches East Coast Event

World Tea Expo producers partner with Natural Products Expo on new conference

LAS VEGAS (June 8, 2009)—The team that gave the specialty tea industry its biggest annual event is expanding its offerings to the East Coast.

SFG Group, producer of the World Tea Expo®, is launching a second event, World Tea East™. The new regional conference and pavilion will be co-located with Natural Products Expo East, September 23-26, 2009, at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center. In addition, an East-Coast edition of World Tea Expo’s popular New Business Boot Camp (NBBC) will take place as part of the Boston event.

George Jage, president of SFG Group, said World Tea East achieves three important goals. First, it responds to demand for specialty tea education on the East Coast by industry members who can’t travel to Las Vegas for World Tea Expo in the summer. Second, it provides a sourcing opportunity for holiday product at an ideal time in the tea buying cycle. And finally, it brings knowledge, products and connections from the country’s top specialty tea trade show to the natural products market.

“We’ve had numerous requests to offer our program to people in the Northeast United States, but we didn’t want to have a second, independent show,” Jage said. “Our partnership with Natural Products Expo East is a perfect solution to fill the needs of the industry through a more robust platform.”

World Tea East will begin with the NBBC, Sept. 22-24. The three-day intensive workshop is designed to give budding tea entrepreneurs direct interaction with industry leaders. The World Tea East Core Conference, with sessions geared toward established business owners, runs Sept. 23-24. And the World Tea Pavilion will be a group of exhibits dedicated to specialty tea within the Natural Products Expo show floor, which is open Sept. 24-26.

It won’t be all learning and buying, either. Tapping into their experience producing the tea industry’s most exciting special events, World Tea East organizers also will host the World Tea Championship Winners Tasting on the evening of Sept. 23. At this elegant affair, attendees will have the chance to sample winning teas from the World Tea Championship™, an annual competition that results in independent tea ratings.

“We are thrilled to be working with World Tea,” said Alan Peterson, senior vice president of New Hope Natural Media, which produces Natural Products Expo East. “Specialty tea is a rising star in the natural products industry, so it makes perfect sense for us to partner with the leaders in the specialty tea community.”

One of the best things about ramping up for a show, is when it all starts to come together. It may sound silly but it is always so fun to read about the speakers, exhibitors and retailers and what they are doing, and how they are impacting the lives of the other sets of constituents and our industry. On a call with the NPA-East the other day I was so pleased to hear their current President say she was reading Mark Bittman’s FOOD MATTERS– an examination of the connection between global warming and our consumption of animal products and processed food– before she even knew he was this year’s keynote. Bittman’s non-dogmatic approach emphasizes less meat and dairy and more fruit, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes. Bittman refers to his personal diet as “Vegan Till 6,” a practice that has helped him lose weight, lower his cholesterol and blood sugar, and generally live a healthier, happier life. What I want to know is, “What happens after 6?”

And…inspiring my post today, check out the Boston Globe article “Rediscovering and reinventing food for the soul” to get excited both about Expo East featured speaker Bryan Terry, and some of the cool things going on in and around Boston, like the Food Project.

Today marked the 39th Earth Day, which celebrates the birth of the environmentalist movement in 1970.

People the world over celebrated and commemorated Earth Day in unique ways today.

We have resolved to have an earthier, greener Expo East in 2009 and going green is at the forefront of our thoughts as we put together our first round of show work orders this week. Can we have organic food? Compostable silverware? Can we use biodiesel buses? Recycled carpet? Offset the building’s energy? Offset the hotels? As we work on some parts of the experience- you can work on others. As an attendee or an exhibitor of Expo East this year, there are a number of things you can do to make your experience better for you and better for the environment….check it out:

Travel Green and Save Green

Natural Products Expo East’s Travel Green and Save Green program encouraged attendees to use public transportation to 2008’s show, resulting in the reduction of 884 tons of carbon emissions!

Click here to see details on our great Travel Green program!

Green Team Sponsorship Options that Support Sustainable Efforts

Recycle Bins

The recycling sponsorship will focus on the greening of the trade show industry and educate attendees and exhibitors on the greening process in Boston. Click here to see how 2008 Green Guru sponsors Nordic Naturals supported the Natural Products Expo East Green Team mission last year!

Renewable Energy

Green Tags are purchased through Bonneville Environmental Foundation, a non-profit organization, to offset the energy used at the Natural Products Expo East.

The Green Exhibitor Program

The Green Exhibitor Program at Natural Products Expo East—in partnership with the Green Team efforts of New Hope Natural Media—calls attention to the tremendous effort our exhibitors are making to reduce the environmental impact of tradeshows. Participation in this recognition program starts with updating a few items in your online exhibitor listing. Please click here to log in and submit your green efforts for review.

Have your own idea to make a “splash of green”?

Contact your Expo Account Manager, or post your comment here and find out how you can be part of these programs, or customize your own!

Whether you’re a founding farmer or a newbie, you shouldn’t have to be told, that the greatest thing you will come to learn when talking to anyone in the Natural Products industry, is that each and every one of us cares. Whether your passion is producing the hottest gluten-free cookie dough, running the neighborhood’s favorite health food store or, in our case, creating that amazing opportunity where a mother-turned entrepreneur of a gluten-free cookie-dough can connect with the savviest retail gent on the block—we are all uber-passionate. Of course we are all working for a living and want to promote our products, ideas and services in order to promote our own, selfish success. But I digress… truly, truly, more than any other industry I have been remotely associated with, we do care! With that, we at Natural Products Expo East are as excited and perplexed about how to ride the coattails of the recent Expo West’s success as you are. It is not something I did, it is not something you did—it is something WE did—something WE should be proud of and something WE, as an industry have to not lose sight of, so that our industry doesn’t follow that latest economic trending…down, down, down. There were so many people that I talked to at West that said things like, “My product is doing great….I can’t keep products on my shelves…” Perplexing? Yes. Surprising? Not really. Pleasing? Yes. How do we keep it going? I don’t know the answer and if I did, I wouldn’t be sitting here watching the Final Four on T.V.—trying to figure out how to get you to come to Expo East this fall (please don’t ask me what I WOULD be doing) BUT, I do know that if we stop caring now, we start down that path, that too many of our friends and family members have already had to go down. Commit yourself to Expo East today and commit yourself to strengthen the platform to support our industry’s growth in the face of challenging economic times, in the face of ALL economic times. Look at it as a commitment to yourself and your future. Exhibition and registration information is available at www.expoeast.com.

Thank you to all of the attendees, exhibitors, speakers, press and vendors who helped make Natural Products Expo West a great success this year.

The economy was top of mind for everyone coming into the show, but as many retailers and exhibitors mentioned, for three days it felt like there was no recession…just the booming natural products industry continuing to grow.

And grow we have, this year we reached a total attendance of over 53,000, a remarkable achievement as a show but also for our community. Every year we gather in Anaheim and Boston for the Natural Products Expos to form new partnerships and relationships, to seek out new and promote new products, but most importantly, share ideas and best practices on how to collectively make our industry succeed.

Thank you again for making this year’s show a success and we look forward to seeing you in Boston! Be well and I will turn over the blogging to our Expo East team for now.

This morning came all too soon after a great Friday evening dancing to the tunes of G.Love and Special Sauce. It didn’t matter how I felt once the show floor and education began at Natural Products Expo West 2009…people were again waiting to enter the halls with great anticipation of new products and vendors.

One more day to see new products, catch up with former colleagues, network, learn, write orders, and do business at Natural Products Expo West 2009. Catch up with what happened today by subscribing to the new Show Daily from our own Natural Foods Merchandiser.

As we enter into our last day, it’s time to reflect on what you have achieved for your business at Expo West and see what else you can accomplish tomorrow. As an industry, we have achieved a much needed gathering that will help each individual and business attending Natural Products Expo West 2009.

Did you see the keynote this morning? What were the hottest products you saw on the show floor this year? What do you think are the hottest trends…is it acai enhanced products? Gluten free? Let me know your favorite product or products.

While yesterday marked the official opening day of education and events for Natural Products Expo West, today is traditionally the busiest day, as the trade show floor opens, with access to over 300,000 square feet of booths and hundreds of new products and services. With more buyers here than ever, the time is now to advance natural and organic products and rejuvenate our economy with healthy options and bottom lines.

It’s also Friday, so why not end the week by being with your colleagues and peers in the natural products industry. Yesterday the education and events were outstanding, Joel Makower of Greenbiz.com delivered an intriguing presentation on greening efforts and moving those beyond just efforts into results. 5,000 days, that is what Joel says that we have remaining to turn things around.

Event highlights yesterday included the Organic Farming Research Foundation Luncheon, which was brimming with the top leaders and stakeholders in the Organic industry. Many of them will continue those same discussions at the Organic Summit this summer in Skamania, WA.

Speaking of Organic, the Fresh Ideas Organic Marketplace, was absolutely brimming with people taking advantage of the California sunshine.

The day ended with the always wonderful International Welcome Reception. The theme country this year was India, and it was complete with wonderful curries and a sitar player.

What are your plans for today? Will you be arriving early for the Better Breakfast? It’s a great way to get a start on the show and cause to get here early to take advantage of Priority Parking!

See you on the show floor at Natural Products Expo West 2009…and at tonight’s Live Music Party with G.Love and Special Sauce!

Two days to go until the education and events of Natural Products Expo West 2009 begin. Yesterday we had our official “pre-con” meetings with our vendors, city officials and hotels. The city of Anaheim and our partners here embrace Natural Products Expo West every year, and we as an industry have found it a great place to continue to build community. So come join us this year, as it is more important than ever to keep our industry thriving.

If your flight has been delayed by the East coast weather, do not be deterred! The sunny California weather awaits you, as well as hundreds of new products, new opportunities and new partnerships. I have always heard great stories from friends and colleagues of their journey to Expo. What are some of yours? What are you looking forward to most at this year’s Natural Products Expo West?