After hosting two summits with local government officials, farmers, business owners and recreational organizations last year, Blue Zones Activate Lewis County announced it will host a community kickoff event to begin engaging with county residents in person and on social media.
The community kickoff event will be held on Saturday, Feb. 24, from 1 to 3:30 p.m. in Centralia
College’s TransAlta Commons, located at 600 Centralia College Blvd.
Admission to the event is free.
“Whether you're an individual, a family, or part of a local organization, this event is for everyone who wants to create a healthier, happier and more connected Lewis County,” read an excerpt from the Facebook event post. “Let's come together and ignite positive change in our community!”
The event will feature multiple speakers, activities for the whole family and samples of Blue Zones cookbook recipes.
Last year’s summits focused on discussing possible projects to help Lewis County communities benefit from healthier food and better recreation access. They were meant to get a feel for which projects would benefit county residents the most, according to previous reporting by The Chronicle.
The first summit, held on Oct. 11, 2023, focused on sourcing ideas from local farmers on how county residents could get easier access to healthier foods.
One of the bigger projects discussed was a proposal to create school gardening systems, such as the Toledo Learning Garden outside of Toledo Elementary School, that allows students easier access to healthier foods and educates them in agriculture and science.
Other projects discussed at the summit included a mobile cold-storage food delivery system, more marketing for local farms, better student nutritional standards at schools and developing more community commercial kitchens for farmers to process and sell food.
The second summit, held on Oct. 19, 2023, looked at roadways, sidewalks and bike lanes within Lewis County with the goal of creating more walkable communities.
The possible projects discussed included converting one-way streets into two-way designs, establishing better support for street festivals throughout Lewis County, adopting “complete street” ordinances, installing more roundabouts to help control speeding better, encouraging community hubs and social gathering places, and establishing better sidewalks and trails to improve walkability.
Blue Zones Activate is an international enterprise using evidence-based strategies and shared traits from the longest-lived people in communities around the world to make it easier for people to make healthy choices within their own communities.
Those interested in volunteering for the Feb. 24 community kickoff event can contact Blue Zones Activate Lewis County Executive Director Shawna Herrifor via email at Shawna@bluezones.com.
For more information, visit Blue Zones Activate Lewis County’s Facebook page at https://bit.ly/3MO0zeL or visit https://www.bluezones.com/activate.
