Get active and social with Thursday walking group

City News July 18, 2025

Blue Zones Albert Lea invites residents of all ages to join a group that will walk from Eastgate Park to Fountain Lake Park for the free concert series, Thursdays on Fountain.

Participants will meet at Eastgate Park, 1108 Eastgate Road, at 4:45 p.m. Thursdays, starting July 24, to walk to Fountain Lake Park, 100 Fountain St., a distance of 1.7 miles. After enjoying the concert, which ends at 7 p.m., they will walk back to Eastgate Park. Adult participants will be eligible for prizes if taking a short survey before and after their experience.

Walking groups were part of the Blue Zones pilot project in Albert Lea in 2009, a project that helped launch the international health initiative. Patterned after “moais” in Japan, the walking groups offer residents a chance to meet new people and establish healthy habits. The local project is reviving the moais with the Thursday group and a Sunday group that meets at 6:30 p.m. at United Preschool, 702 U.S. Highway 69.

The “park and walk” on Thursdays will run through Aug. 28, with an alternative destination on July 31 when the concert series breaks for the Freeborn County Fair. Residents may join anytime over the next 6 weeks. Annie Olson, a local fitness and preschool instructor, is coordinating moais for Blue Zones Albert Lea and will lead the weekly walk.

For more information, email bluezones@ci.albertlea.mn.us or follow “Blue Zones Project Albert Lea” on Facebook.

For immediate release
Media contact: Cathy Malakowsky, Blue Zones Albert Lea project lead, at 507-377-4316 or cmalakowsky@ci.albertlea.mn.us