Rob Lowe Photo: Provided by Cincinnati Arts Association

Kroger Wellness Festival, a two-day event that celebrates physical, mental and emotional health for everyone, returns this September with a lineup of celebrity guests and free concerts.

The festival will be held across five stages on Fifth Street in downtown Cincinnati Friday-Saturday, Sept. 26-27 from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. both days. Guests can take part in more than 200 panel discussions, cooking demonstrations, wellness experiences and musical performances that will focus on six core pillars of transformation: balance, move, breathe, care, uplift and play.

Some panels, activities and workshops will include healthy travel hacks, tips for optimizing your mood and energy, and a discussion on not allowing disabilities to limit you and your goals. Visitors can also learn more about skin and beauty care, tips for cancer patients and their loved ones, and GLP-1s. There will also be a silent disco party.

“The Kroger Wellness Festival is a family-friendly event for anyone wanting to prioritize their well-being through fun, interactive experiences,” Colleen Lindholz, president of Kroger Health, said in a press release. “This free event is a great opportunity for people to learn about and incorporate food as medicine, fitness, mindfulness and overall healthy habits into their lifestyle.”

The festival will also feature some new and returning celebrity guests, including:

  • Hollywood icon, bestselling author, podcaster and philanthropist Rob Lowe
  • World-renowned chef and Food Network star Alex Guarnaschelli
  • World Series champion Alex Rodriguez
  • Two-time Olympic medalist and NBC Sports analyst Laurie Hernandez
  • Eleven-time Olympic medalist, maternal advocate and entrepreneur Allyson Felix
  • Actor and comedian Joel McHale
  • MMA star and philanthropist Dustin Poirier

There will also be two free concerts, with The All-American Rejects performing Friday night and Third Eye Blind on Saturday night.

Organizers will release a full schedule for the festival later in August.

More info: kroger.com.

This article appears in Aug 6-19, 2025.

Katherine Barrier is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati’s journalism program and has nearly 10 years of experience reporting local and national news as a digital journalist. At CityBeat, she...