Nearly 300 Shawano area residents got moving Wednesday in an effort to promote exercise and family unity.
Shawano Pathways’ first “Let’s Get Moving” event at Kuckuk Park was made possible by a $5,000 grant from the Shawano Area Community Foundation.
The event celebrated three new “loops” that combine five city parks (Kuckuk, Eberlein, Sturgeon, Martzke and Memorial). The loops range in length from 3.75 to 6 miles and are marked with five permanent signs. Maps and educational materials also are available.
“This is the inaugural event, so we are introducing the routes to people,” Shawano Pathways board member Matty Mathison said.
At each checkpoint Wednesday, participants received prizes emphasizing safety, such as a travel-sized first aid kit and bicycle reflectors.
Mathison said Pathways began planning the project in April 2013 to promote an active lifestyle and exercise. The area’s poor showing in the state’s county health rankings bolstered the organization’s efforts.
“We were not ranked very well, and we are trying to get people to be more active and make it easier to be active,” Mathison said.
The county ranked poorly in physical activity in the health rankings, but 62-year-old Shawano resident Tom Aumann disagreed.
“You don’t see that here today, do you?” said Aumann, who brought his wife, Lois, and grandchildren to the event. “It is a fabulous event put together by Pathways.”
Angie Keller, of Cecil, and her two children also got moving.
“I am doing this to get more healthy,” Keller said. “We are trying to get more active as a family.”
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