Recognizing Strathmore’s efforts

By Miriam Ostermann, Associate Editor

Alberta’s Communities ChooseWell program awarded the Town of Strathmore and the Healthy Eating Active Living (HEAL) Coalition with an award for Creating Supporting Environments, during the award ceremony at the Alberta Recreation and Parks Conference on Oct. 24.
Communities ChooseWell Champion for Strathmore, Robert Breitwieser, accepted the award that recognized HEAL and the community’s efforts to increase pathways and walking paths, and the town’s overall walking accessibility – a long-term focus of Strathmore.
“An award like this recognizes the efforts of our town and its leaders who have worked with HEAL and ChooseWell to make this a healthy and active community,” Breitwieser said. “This award is for all of our citizens and is something to be proud of.”
The town is home to 50 kilometres of trails and paths used for walking and cycling. Town council supported the Pathway Signage Proposal that aims to provide the community with more information about existing pathways and marks the access points to the pathways clearly.
Over the past year, Strathmore has also received a renewed and redesigned streetscape, additional benches, picnic tables, new landscaping and new lighting fixtures to revitalize the downtown core.
A total of 21 awards were presented to communities throughout Alberta this year.
“It’s just the nature of what Strathmore has been doing. They put a lot of effort into creating a supportive physical environment particularly, walkaround ability, really looking at destination walking as well as recreational walkability,” said Lisa McLaughlin, program manager for Communities ChooseWell.
“It’s possible for anyone to walk or ride a bike from any part of the community to downtown, so I think just the accessibility and the spread of their walking paths. I think Strathmore in general has been actively engaged in the Communities ChooseWell program for several years and so we just see consistent ongoing attention to a healthy community with the work that they’re doing on an ongoing annual basis.”
Alberta Recreation and Parks Association is a not-for-profit organization that focuses on establishing healthier and happier communities and residents through the promotion and development of recreation and parks.
With a similar focus, HEAL, which is a grassroots initiative, also supports healthy eating and active living in our local community, especially through walking which is accessible and affordable. Projects have included the Great Skate, daytime indoor walking programs, hosting the Alberta Walkability Roadshow in the past, and weekly outdoor walking programs.