The Bluegrass and Beyond

At least 104 of Kentucky’s 120 counties will close a major street for several hours Sunday afternoon and invite people to come out and exercise: run, bike, walk, jog, skate — whatever they like.

In Lexington, Main and Short streets between Rose Street/Elm Tree Lane and Broadway will be closed from about 2 to 7 p.m.

More than 75 local organizations have activities planned around Second Sunday in Lexington — everything from dance classes to bike polo demonstrations. Plus, Biggest Loser TV show finalist Mark Kruger will speak about how he lost 129 pounds by exercising more and eating less.

For details, go to the city’s Web site, www.lexingtonky.gov and click on the Second Sunday icon. For statewide information, go to www.2ndsundayky.com.

It will be a big afternoon. But what happens after that?

In Lexington, a smaller version of Second Sunday will become a monthly event.

Beginning Nov. 8, organizers plan to sponsor a police-escorted bicycle ride on the second Sunday of each month, said Urban County Councilman Jay McChord.

“For a year we’ve been talking about how to make Second Sunday a once-a-month thing, and eventually a once-a-week thing,” McChord said. “This is a start.”

McChord has been one of Second Sunday’s biggest boosters, seeing it as a way to curb Kentucky’s horrible health statistics, which include being a national leader in heart disease, diabetes and obesity. The hope is that these events will inspire people to exercise regularly and adopt healthful lifestyles.

The new monthly 10- to 12-mile bike rides for cyclists of all abilities who are at least age 12 will begin at Cheapside. Each month, the ride will go to a different Lexington park or neighborhood.

The November ride will begin at 2 p.m. and go out Harrodsburg Road to the Beaumont neighborhood, where old farm roads have become trails. Details of each monthly ride will be posted on the city’s Web site, including cancelation information if the weather turns nasty.

Each event will cost organizers about $750 for a police escort, money that will be covered by sponsors. November’s ride is being sponsored by downtown developer Phil Holoubek and his wife, Marnie. Future sponsors include the Legacy Center and Pedal the Planet bike shop.

“The idea is to showcase the bike lanes and trails we already have and the ones we are building,” said Wendy Trimble, co-owner of Pedal the Planet. “We want to get people out more often and maybe give them the confidence in a group setting to get out later on their own. We also hope it will make people realize that 10 miles on a bike isn’t really that far.”

Holoubek said Mayor Jim Newberry and Lexington police officials have been very supportive of the effort. Eventually, the monthly escorted rides could lead to other activities that will get people outside and exercising all year around.

“We can really change the health culture of Kentucky,” McChord said.

With Second Sunday a little more than a month away, 100 of Kentucky’s 120 counties have plans to participate.

Each county plans to close a street or highway for a few hours Sunday afternoon, Oct. 11, and invite residents to come out to walk, bike, run or jog — and to think about how regular exercise could make them healthier and happier.

That was the basic idea used to launch Second Sunday last year, when 70 counties were involved. This year, though, many communities have more ambitious plans.

“It’s becoming a platform for all kinds of health-related events,” said Diana Doggett, a county extension agent in Lexington who is coordinating the statewide effort.

Dogget said many counties are planning health fairs, “fastest kid in town” races and even arts events.

Lexington will close a mile-long loop downtown — Main to Mill to Short to Deweese streets — from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Related events include bike polo demonstrations, health screenings and martial arts and yoga classes. A bike valet service will be available for cyclists to check their bikes while participating in other activities.

Jessamine County plans similar events downtown, plus a 6k run between West Jessamine and East Jessamine high schools to memorialize a popular coach and student athlete who recently died, Dogget said.

Elliott County’s events include speeches by House Majority Floor Leader Rocky Adkins, a cancer survivor, and a local man who lost 140 pounds without surgery. Festivities end with a concert by bluegrass star Don Rigsby.

Allen County citizens are building a two-mile bike and walking trail on property surrounding a Civil War site, Dumont Hill. Second Sunday activities there will include canon ball bowling.

Newport plans to close Monmouth Street between Fifth and 10th streets. Taylor County will include canoeing on the Green River. Franklin, Scott, Green and Adair counties all have big festivals planned around Second Sunday events.

UK’s Cooperative Extension Service is coordinating Second Sunday plans across the state, and some counties haven’t gotten involved because of vacancies in their extension offices, Dogget said. But anyone can step up and organize local events in those counties — and she hopes people will.

But the point of Second Sunday isn’t to get people outside exercising one day each October; it is to inspire them to start a regular exercise habit.

“What we need to do is change people’s lifestyles,” said Jay McChord, a Lexington councilman who helped create Second Sunday.

McChord also wants Second Sunday to attract national attention — and money — to Kentucky’s effort to shed its ranking as one of the nation’s least-healthy states.

He hopes exposure will attract millions in grant and foundation money to build a trail system throughout Kentucky so communities large and small won’t have to close streets for their citizens to have safe places to walk, run or bike.

Dr. Rick Lofgren, a physician at the University of Kentucky Hospital, appeared with McChord, Legacy Trail organizer Steve Austin and UK Agriculture Dean Scott Smith at the Lexington Forum’s monthly meeting Thursday to talk about trails, better health and Second Sunday.

Lofgren said he practiced in academic hospitals in many parts of the country before coming to UK five years ago. He noted that Kentucky ranks high nationally in obesity, diabetes, heart disease, strokes and lung cancer — all of the health problems nobody wants.

“This is the sickest group of patients I’ve ever taken care of,” Lofgren said. “Much of what I see is preventable. It has to do with the lifestyles we have around here.”

Lofgren said regular exercise would help a lot — on Second Sunday, and every other day of the year.

Second Sunday, the effort to get Kentuckians off the couch and exercising in the street, is gearing up this week for a statewide event in October that will be bigger and better than last year.

Second Sunday organizers will rally at 10 a.m. Tuesday in the Capitol Rotunda in Frankfort to promote the effort. House and Senate resolutions supporting Second Sunday will be introduced by en. Katie Stine, a Republican from Southgate,  Rep. Tanya Pullin, a Democrat from South Shore, and Rep. Susan Westrom, a Lexington Democrat.  Gov. Steve Beshear also plans a declaration.

A major street was closed for the afternoon last Oct. 12 in 70 of Kentucky’s 120 counties and more than 12,000 citizens got out to walk, run, bike, rollerskate and participate in other health-related activities and programs. In Lexington, Limestone Street was closed from Third Street to the Avenue of Champions and it was filled by more than 2,000 people, including Mayor Jim Newberry, several Urban County council members and their families.

This year’s statewide event is planned for Oct. 11, although promoters hope to open a major street to pedestrians in some communities more often – ideally, on the second Sunday of every month. Related activites are being organized throughout the year.

The Second Sunday movement began in Bogotá, Colombia, and has been copied by many other cities, including New York. Kentucky’s Second Sunday last year was the nation’s first coordinated statewide event. It is being coordinated by the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture’s extension service, and the statewide coordinator is Diana Doggett of the Fayette County extension office.

Jay McChord, an Urban County Council member and one of the forces behind Second Sunday, sees the event as a low-cost, fun way to get notoriously unhealthy Kentuckians to be more physically active and more involved in their communities.

In addition to the Second Sunday road-closing events on Oct. 12 in 71 of Kentucky’s 120 counties, several free activities are planned at Kentucky State Parks.  Here’s a summary of them from a parks press release:

Barren River Lake State Resort Park, Lucas

Barren River staff will lead an interpretive hike along the 1-mile Connell Nature Trail.  This hike takes approximately 1.5 hours and goes through a heavily wooded area. Participants will see a variety of trees and possibly some of the wildlife, which could include our triplet and twin white tail deer fawns.  Participants should wear comfortable clothes, hiking boots or tennis shoes (no flip flops). Bring along drinking water and apply sunscreen.  Hikers should meet in front of the lodge at 1 p.m. CST.  Terrain is easy-to-moderate.

Blue Licks Battlefield State Resort Park, Mount Olivet

Blue Licks will close a major portion of the park to vehicle traffic from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Children and adults can enjoy walking the park roads, riding bikes, skateboards, rollerblades, etc.

Buckhorn Lake State Resort Park, Buckhorn

Buckhorn Lake State Resort Park’s first 2-mile Back to Nature Walk begins in front of the lodge at 2 p.m.  Most of the walk will be on blacktop, with a small portion on gravel.   In addition, local health departments and clinics will provide services and tips.

Columbus-Belmont State Park, Columbus

This is the weekend of the Civil War Days event.  Festivities will include a “ghost walk” on Friday night that goes through park trails, which are earthworks built by Confederates during the Civil War.

Dale Hollow Lake State Resort Park, Burkesville

Dale Hollow Lake State Resort Park will offer a guided hike to Eagle’s Point at 4 p.m. This is a moderate 1.6-mile hike out to a beautiful overlook of the lake.  Learn about park and lake history and native wildlife, and see the fall foliage.

Greenbo Lake State Resort Park, Greenup

A Fern Valley hike begins at the trail head at the Jesse Stuart Parking Lot at 2 p.m. The walk will be at an easy pace and last about an hour. Greenbo also has hiking, mountain biking and horseback riding trails for all levels of expertise.

As for almost every other day of the year, Kentucky’s state park system has more than 250 miles of hiking trails of various levels of difficulty.  Find more information at www.parks.ky.gov.

Kentuckians are among the nation’s least healthy people. All of the surveys show it. Many of us smoke, most of us don’t get enough exercise and almost all of us have a deep and abiding love for fried, salty and sugary food.

We also know Kentucky is a poor state, with little money available to build gyms, pools or trails for walking and biking.

All of that is why many people who attended Lexington’s first Bike Summit a year ago were struck by a presentation from Gil Peñalosa, the former parks director of Bogotá, Colombia.

“He said, ‘You have the best bike and pedestrian infrastructure in the world already in place. You just have cars running up and down it all the time,’” Urban County Councilman Jay McChord recalled.

Peñalosa is famous for starting Ciclovia, an event that since 1976 has closed 70 miles of Bogotá’s streets to motorized traffic for seven hours each Sunday so people can come out to walk, bike, exercise and socialize. (Click here to see a short video of former Bogotá Mayor Enrique Peñalosa discussing these issues.)

Several American cities have followed Bogotá’s lead. On three Saturdays in August, New York City banned motorized vehicles from seven miles of Park Avenue, all the way from the Brooklyn Bridge to Central Park. Thousands of New Yorkers came out to walk and roller blade and to ride bikes, skateboards, strollers, wheelchairs and even grocery carts.

No state has tried such a thing — until Kentucky, this Sunday.

The event is called Second Sunday, and between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m., at least 1 mile of a prominent street will be closed in 71 of Kentucky’s 120 counties for a street party that focuses on health and fitness.

In Lexington, Limestone will be closed from Third Street south to the Avenue of Champions. There will be a band playing at each end, and musicians will stroll through the crowd.

The courthouse square will be have a health fair and games for all ages. There will be stationary bikes for those who don’t want to ride in the street, and tandem bikes for those who want to ride with someone whose eyesight is better than theirs. There will be tai chi and bike polo demonstrations, a stroller workout and a dog bone hunt.

At 4 p.m., police will escort ambitious cyclists who want to ride out to Paris Pike — some even plan to ride to Paris and back.

“We want to make this a 21st-century parade where there are no bystanders,” said Diana Doggett, a University of Kentucky extension agent in Fayette County.

Lexington’s effort has been championed by McChord and Mayor Jim Newberry, with a lot of work being done by Doggett and Kenzie Gleason, the city’s bicycle and pedestrian coordinator, among others. A dozen Lexington companies and organizations have signed on as sponsors of Second Sunday, and the Downtown Lexington Corp. has coordinated with businesses on and near Limestone to be open.

UK’s Cooperative Extension Service, which is coordinating the statewide effort, put out the challenge at a meeting in June that included teams of officials from 50 counties. Doggett said the response has been overwhelming, and many counties that couldn’t get something together for Sunday are already planning events for the second Sunday of October 2009.

The initial goal is to make Second Sunday an annual event. Or maybe a monthly event. In some places, it could even become a weekly event, giving small towns a hook to attract visitors.

McChord sees even bigger possibilities.

One of his interests is building more walking and bike paths. McChord, 40, grew up in the south Lexington suburbs and remembers how important the ball fields built at Shillito Park in the 1970s were to him.

“So I’ve thought, what could I do that my daughter’s generation would look back on?” he said.

McChord decided it was building recreational trails. His first effort has been a proposed 8-mile, multi-use path in his south Lexington district that he’s calling the HealthWay trail. It would connect Waveland State Shrine, Shillito and Wellington parks and major shopping centers in the area. He’s also among those working to create the Legacy Trail, which would connect downtown Lexington to the Kentucky Horse Park.

With the small amount of money now available, it would take forever to build a decent multi-use trail system in Kentucky. For example, McChord said, state officials last year had $13 million in various funds to build bike and pedestrian trails, but got requests for $75 million. And many counties didn’t bother to ask, because they knew funds were limited.

So, what if Kentucky could tap into more of the millions and millions of dollars that private foundations across America give each year to promote health, wellness and community life?

“What Second Sunday is designed to do is make a national statement that we are sick and tired of being sick and tired,” McChord said. He thinks Kentuckians could use Second Sunday “to cast ourselves as the lovable big loser” — like the characters in the popular weight-loss TV show.

“At the end of the day, we can take our biggest liability and turn it to our advantage,” he said. “We can make a statement that allows us to ask for help.”

So, think of Second Sunday as a first step — or pedal stroke — to a healthier Kentucky.