Open Streets Lawton – 2nd Edition – Is Scheduled For Friday October 2nd

The Lawton Community will be presenting the second “Open Streets Lawton-Fort Sill” on Friday, October 2nd, 2015 from 4pm-8pm. The event will be held in Downtown Lawton Fort Sill on C Avenue from 2nd-5th Streets. This event is presented by a multitude of community organizations to include the Fit Kids of Southwest Oklahoma Coalition. This is a FREE active family community event to attend.

We had great success with our inaugural event and want to keep the momentum going in our community. Open Streets is a newer concept that turns city streets into a temporary public park with activities for the whole family to get people moving. Open Streets is a national movement with more than 90 documented initiatives in North America. Open streets events are increasingly common in cities seeking innovative ways to achieve environmental, social, economic, and public health goals by temporarily closing streets to automobile traffic, so that people may use them for walking, bicycling, dancing, playing, and socializing. Here are some valuable things that Open Streets brings to the community:

• Open Streets creates sense of community
• Open Streets promotes active lifestyle
• Open Streets promotes active transportation
• Open Streets aides in efforts for revitalization and economic development

We had over 3200 people to attend and over 60 organizations host activities at this event in June 2015 and expect this number to rise. This is not a traditional “health fair” instead, community organizations and businesses sponsor areas and volunteer for activities in “Zones”. Along the closed streets are “Zones” with family activities within them, which focus on the zone’s overall goal (EX: Active, Play, Chill).

This event’s theme is “Tailgating” to welcome fall and football!!! We want to encourage the community to come “showing off” their sports team pride. Some of the tentative events that will take place this day: Sidewalk Sales, Bicycle obstacle course, Fitness Classes, Glow Run, Imagination Playground, Food Trucks, Giant Board games, Stress Relief activities, Live Music, Market Vendors, Kids Crafts, etc.