FALL RIVER: More than 40 people—young and old—turned out for the N.S. Walks event hosted by a Fall River mother and son last night, May 11, in their home community.
Deborah Peddle-Hann and her son Nathan, 9, wanted to hold the #WalkDay2022 event in Fall River because they saw there was none being held for Nova Scotia Walk Day in the community.
N.S. Walks is a province-wide event held in more than 60 communities across N.S. put on through Hike N.S.
There were some people in the crowd who were from as far away as the Cole Harbour area.
Before the 3.8-kilometre walk began in Fall River, the participants gathered at the Gordon R. Snow Community Centre in Fall River where Peddle-Hann gave a short speech and thanks to those who made the free event possible.
“We’re planning a big backpacking event next month, so we wanted to get out and do some walking,” said Peddle-Hann. “We found out about N.S. Walk Day and realized there wasn’t an event happening in Fall River, so we decided we were going to create it and host our own.”
Nathan was happy to be a co-host with his mom.
“I wanted to get a start on walking to be prepared for the hike we’re going to do,” he said.
Video: the participants walk through Jamieson Park, which is maintained by Fall River Garden Club.
The group left the Snow Centre, crossing at the crosswalk and headed up to Jamieson Park, where they turned down Lockview Road. Down where the path to Lock 4 of the Shubenacadie Canal system is they crossed and walked it to the crosswalk next to Fletcher Drive, crossing at the lighted crosswalk on Hwy 2 and Schwarzwald subdivision (Coach Ave.)
From there the participants headed to the Sobeys intersection lights, crossing there and walking up Fall River Road before crossing the crosswalk at the Snow Centre, completing the 3.8 km event.
VIDEO: Organizers Deb Peddle-Hann and Nathan talk about why they wanted to host the WalkDay2022 event in Fall River.
There was a lot of cooperation by motorists who stopped at the crosswalk by Coach Avenue as they saw the walkers crossing and gave them plenty of time to go across (even a couple times when the light would end before everyone was across).
The goal of NS Walks is to create social supports to increase opportunities for people who are currently less active to enjoy the benefits of walking. Walking includes all abilities mobility methods.
To learn how to start your own walking group in your community or to join an existing one, check out www.nswalks.ca; call 902-932-6902 or email walk@hikenovascotia.ca. Follow Hike N.S. on social media @hikenovascotia.
