NATCHEZ — Members of Alcorn State University Extension Service’s staff are hoping to spend their weekend teaching residents how to live healthier.

Alcorn’s extension service and the Natchez Tricentennial will host a summer fitness fair today and Saturday.

The extension service’s youth cooking class participants have been learning all week how to prepare healthy meals. The young chefs will deliver meals they have prepared to the Stewpot at noon today.

On Saturday, a 5K walk/run will take place starting at 8 a.m. on the bluff.

The fitness fair will include an inflatable obstacle course as well as information from local medical providers, athletic apparel and shoe companies, walking and biking clubs, local gyms and others who will be on the bluff.

Jarita Frazier-King with the extension service said the goal of the fitness fair is to raise awareness about the ways local residents can live healthier in the community, as well as ways in which residents can utilize extension service programs to become healthier.

“(Mississippi) is still No. 3 in the nation with obesity in the 35th percentile,” Frazier-King said. “People will be able to learn about healthy living and healthy eating, alternative medicine and other aspects of a healthy lifestyle. There will be a lot of great info.”

Saturday’s fitness fair will begin with registration for the 5K at 7 a.m. The race will begin at 8 a.m., and the fair will continue until approximately 3 p.m.

Online registration for the 5K is also available at alcorn.edu/5k-run-walk.