The price was good, and Knightdale was right, he said.

“This is the place to be with reasonable housing and close to RTP. Knightdale is it,” he said. “When it starts to build up again, we’ll be poised for the growth.”

Desai was one of 108 business representatives who touted not only their offerings and services but the town of Knightdale on Thursday at the Knightdale Chamber of Commerce annual business fair called “the Expo.”

Knightdale High School was turned into a showcase of businesses that showcased the diversity of the town’s business community.

Desai doesn’t need to sell the town to Gena Sonye, who moved here with her husband and two boys, Keegan, 8, and Paxton, 3, from Cincinnati, Ohio two years ago.

Sonye said the family relocated because her husband wanted to be close to his identical twin with whom they lived in northwest Raleigh before they found Knightdale.

“Knightdale is up and coming,” she said. “We found a nice house for a good price.”

She was out with her sons Thursday familiarizing herself with her new community.

While at the Expo, she found a representative at New York Life Insurance to sell her an annuity she had been considering, she said.

She also stopped by the booth of Kids Stay and Play, which she frequents with her sons next to Lowe’s Foods when she shops for groceries.

Like Sonye, Wake Heart and Vascular Associates also found Knightdale. It made Knightdale its 22nd North Carolina community in April.

The 22-doctor facility system-wide offers nuclear medicine and the latest in heart health, said Nancy Jenkins, a nurse and office manager. The Knightdale facility is in Knightdale Family Medicine. The company joins a growing medical community in Knightdale.

Rex Healthcare opened a facility this summer and Raleigh Duke Hospital opened in the spring. Wake Heart and Vascular came for many of the same reasons those businesses found Knightdale.

“We wanted to expand to this community because there’s such a need,” said Jenkins.

Medical assistants took blood pressure Thursday, and told residents about services.

Other businesses gave out candy, food, notepads, pens and pencils.

Nine-year-old Haley Haberman, visiting for the day with her grandfather Ranjit Mootoo, had a sack full of finds. Her favorites were the candy and makeup.

Jun Lee, the owner of Black Belt World, a local chain that teaches tae kwon do, said last year he opened a booth and found the event so well-attended that this year he decided to run two booths from the central court of Knightdale High School.

Paulette Smith and Antoinette Washington, both of whom work at the high school, came out on their breaks. For Smith, it turned into a reunion of sorts.

I’ve seen some businesses that I didn’t know existed,” said Smith. “And it’s nice to see some kids who used to go here that work in some of these businesses.”