Downtown gets into Walktober spirit

Wives or husbands who get dirty looks from their spouses about spending too much money shopping now have a new defense – shopping in downtown Lawrence is good for your health.

That’s part of the message that Downtown Lawrence Inc. and Lawrence Memorial Hospital are teaming up to spread as part of the city’s first-ever Walktober event. The national event promotes the health benefits of walking and encourages people who haven’t walked much to begin during the month of October.

Maria Martin, executive director of Downtown Lawrence Inc., said her group figured that downtown was the perfect place for walking.

“We have such a picturesque downtown; it should be enjoyed by people who just want to take a stroll,” Martin said.

But if people want to combine shopping with their walking, that would be all the better, Martin said.

Shoppers walk along the 800 block of Massachusetts Street on Tuesday. Downtown merchants are partnering with Lawrence Memorial Hospital to sponsor Walktober, a national campaign to get people walking more in October.

“We’re telling people that every step counts, and if some of those steps happen to be inside a store, that’s healthy too,” Martin said.

Downtown Lawrence Inc. will be printing special maps of downtown that show how many steps it is from the city’s parking garage to various stores and attractions. The maps, along with other walking tips, will be offered at an information meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Lawrence Arts Center, 940 N.H.

The organization also is putting together walking tours of downtown led by local celebrities. Details on that portion of the program will be announced later this month.

Area health leaders said they’re excited about the promotion. Aynsley Anderson, community education coordinator at LMH, said the hospital has long promoted a program that encourages people to take about 10,000 steps per day, or the equivalent of about five miles. She said she realized that wasn’t feasible for everybody, but if people start thinking of a stroll downtown as exercise it could help.

“We need to do something because the average American takes between 2,000 to 3,000 steps per day, and for a lot of people, that is probably just between their sofa and the refrigerator,” Anderson said.

Learn more

¢ A meeting about Walktober will be at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Lawrence Arts Center, 940 N.H.

¢ The first walking event as part of the program will begin at 9 a.m. on Oct. 1 at the city parking garage in the 900 block of New Hampshire Street. Interested people can meet at the garage, receive a brief tour of the downtown’s historical sites, and end at the Lawrence Farmer’s Market.

And Janelle Martin, executive director of the Community Health Improvement Project, which will also be promoting the program, said Walktober may help solve a longtime downtown issue – parking.

“It may help some people lower their blood pressure because they won’t need to get stressed out if they can’t find a parking spot right in front of the store they want to go to,” Martin said.

“Hopefully they’ll begin thinking of it as an opportunity instead of an obstacle.”