Hay River Declares Plans for $100k ParticipACTION Reward

After their months long race to be declared Canada’s Most Active Community, the Town of Hay River have announced how they will be using the prize money.

Over the summer, Hay River took part in a national competition put together by ParticipAction, who were looking to find communities across Canada who did all they could to engage their populations in sports and events that promoted healthy living.

Diana Dampier, Senior Director of Projects and Stakeholder Relations at ParticipACTION, shared what it is that the group looks for when selecting a community.

“The things that we’re looking for are really a ‘whole-of-community’ approach to encouraging and supporting physical activity. We’re looking for communities that are able to get a lot of different organizations involved, which Hay River did an amazing job of. They had forty-one different organizations participating.”

Throughout the competition, Hay River registered 197 different events for their residents to take part in. Some of the events were a little unusual, but that only helped them to stand out.

“There were some creative ones like Mushroom Picking. That might not be something people normally think of when they think ‘let’s get active,’ but that’s a great example of getting out in nature and getting that outdoor physical activity. They had a “Bike Bus” program that is going to continue well beyond the Challenge. They included things like a Senior’s Lift and Learn, Chair Yoga, Kayaking, all kinds of creative and accessible ways to get active.”

As announced in a special presentation on Saturday, October 19^th, Hay River will be spending twenty percent of their $100,000 to help enhance and expand the community’s sport and recreation programs, while the remaining eighty percent will be put toward the Inukshuk Park Revitalization project.