Takin’ it to the Streets Alive

“We believe this is an activity for all ages, all abilities,” said Tricia Mortell, an event organizer and program manager for Clark County Public Health. “There will be food, information and vendors, but the focus is really on health and fitness.”

Open street events have been taking place across the country — and around the world — for decades.

Unlike street fairs, open street events typically run for a mile or more. The events emphasize opportunities to be physically active and encourage people to get to know their communities through exploration.

Sunday Streets Alive will have a smattering of everything. It’s part fitness, part street fair, part carnival and part parade, Mortell said.

“Different activity centers will focus on different things,” she said. “John Ball Park will be really geared toward children and families, with things like bike helmet fittings for kids, kid-friendly games, a circus and even a low tight-rope walk. Uptown and downtown, they’ll focus a little more on entertainment and activities, music, adult Zumba fitness.”

Fort Vancouver will have a station with disc golf and historical activities like sack races; Clark College will have hiking, Zumba and tai chi; and Marshall Center will have Radio Disney and a bike obstacle course for kids.

“Everything is absolutely free,” Mortell said.

There’s also a flash parade — open to any and all comers — being put together by The Arc of Southwest Washington. It will begin forming at Marshall Center at 11 a.m. and probably head out around noon, said Michael Piper, executive director of the agency.

“In our work, the No. 1 thing that people with disabilities want is to be included,” Piper said. “One national expert said the only real disability is loneliness. So this is a parade celebrating being human and part of a community.”

Dogs on leashes are welcome, but no signs or banners are allowed in the parade, which is designed to celebrate individuals.

“It’s not supposed to be political,” Piper said.

So far, he’s heard that a dance step group, musicians, a couple of floats and some therapy llamas will be part of the parade, Piper added.

“It’s kind of gone viral,” he said. “We have wheelchairs, strollers, skateboards, stilts, costumes, somebody making a float with mannequins, all sorts of people planning to participate. We’re not sure of everything we’ll see yet.”

People don’t have to sign up for the parade, which will run the entire 4.2-mile route, and they can join in and leave whenever they’d like.

The event came about last August, when representatives from Clark County Public Health, Clark County Community Planning, the city of Vancouver and the nonprofit Bike Clark County got together to discuss bringing an open street event to Clark County. The idea stemmed from Clark County’s 2010 Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan, which identified an open street event as an action item.

“We wanted to show that being physically active and out in the community is for everyone, regardless of their abilities,” Mortell said. “We know that chronic diseases are the No. 1 killers in our community, so as a public health agency that’s important to us, but we also want to show that you don’t have to join a gym to get fit. There are open spaces for biking and walking everywhere.”

The agency also asked food vendors to include at least two healthy items on their menus, which they all agreed to, Mortell said.

“Be sure and come prepared with some water and maybe a few dollars if you want to try some healthy food,” she said.

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