Go play in the street

Published: Wednesday,  May 1, 2019

By KIM HORTON
Times-News Columnist

It’s not often that you’re told to go play in the street. In fact, you may hesitate because inevitably you hear a mom voice firmly telling you to stay out of the street. But in this case, you can ignore mom. Yes, you’re officially invited to get outdoors and go play in the street at Hendersonville’s first Open Streets event.

On Sunday, May 19, from 2-5 p.m., 7th Avenue will be transformed into a playground for all ages to walk, bike, play games, dance, listen to music and exercise. It’s an afternoon where you will see a vibrant, creative, walk-friendly community take on a new look for three hours.

Open Streets events are about active transportation and are already happening in many cities and towns. They provide multiple benefits to the host city beyond the physical activity aspect. 7th Avenue has undergone many changes throughout its history, and once more, change is happening again as revitalization efforts are put in place to make it more pedestrian friendly. Sponsored by Strive, the City of Hendersonville, Henderson County and many others, the event on May 19 will be a taste of what 7th Avenue can be.

Another benefit of Open Streets is, of course, encouraging physical activity and healthy living. It’s about exploring the friendly ambience of 7th Avenue in a traffic-free mode — by walking and biking and playing. It’s about living and participating in this healthy community. That’s important because your health and longevity are connected to your community — essentially where you live, learn, work, worship and play. It’s about public health.

Open Streets plays (pun intended) right into one of the four selected health priorities our county has identified: physical activity and nutrition. It’s a great way to get people outside and moving while having fun. No more emphasis on obesity. Our new mode is positive encouragement to move each day through some sort of enjoyable physical activity.

There’s no doubt that physical activity can improve your life. According to health.gov, it can make you feel better right away by:

  • Boosting your mood
  • Sharpening your focus
  • Reducing your stress
  • Improving your sleep.

And over time, physical activity can help you live a longer, healthier life by:

  • Lowering your risk of diseases like type-2 diabetes and some cancers
  • Controlling your blood pressure
  • Staying at a healthy weight.

What counts as physical activity? Anything that gets you moving—even things you have to do anyway such as cleaning or walking the dog—and things that don’t feel like exercise like gardening, hiking or playing catch with your kids at the park.

By the way, encouraging physical activity is the intent of GoHendo.org, a website that captures all the fun ways to be active in our county. Check it out—especially the events section. Open Streets is up there with many other happenings. And if nothing moves you (pun intended again), then peruse the other sections for good traditional places to move such as our county’s wonderful bounty of parks and trails.

As for Open Streets, it’s a great way to kick off a new season of activity. Remember the event is all about active transportation. The best way to get there is to take the Mud Creek or Oklawaha Greenways to Sullivan Park and enjoy a temporary bike lane to 7th Avenue along Ashe Street. Or you can park at St. James Church at 766 North Main Street and walk to Open Streets. East 7th Avenue will be open to activities between North Grove and Ashe Streets, with additional blocks of activities on Maple and Locust Streets.

Open Streets is still looking for volunteers and participation partners. Volunteers simply help set up, tear down and keep attendees engaged. Participation Partners are clubs, organizations or companies who have an interest in growing active transportation and wellness and who would like to provide information and host a simple activity, game or exercise.

The following link is the one-stop signup form for interested participant groups (you can have a table and host an activity), volunteers and just general interest: https://goo.gl/forms/B6y9DNxtjejiRYhg2. In addition, you can reach out to Ritchie Rozzelle, TDM Coordinator, Land of Sky Regional Council, at 828-713-8616.

For more information about how physical activity can benefit you and how much you need each day, visit hendersoncountync.gov/health. View GoHendo.org for activities, events and places to be active in Henderson County.

Kim Horton is the communications manager for the Henderson County Department of Public Health. She can be reached at khorton@hendersoncountync.gov.

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