While they might be small, the Town of Salisbury, N.B., has proven they are mighty.
With a population of just 7,800 people, Salisbury has been crowned Canada’s most active community for 2023.
“I think it speaks volumes to our community spirit here in Salisbury and shows just how active our community is, the fact that we can compete with municipalities that are even more populated than our entire province,” said Austin Henderson, the chief administrative officer for the town.
Throughout the month of June, over 750 community members got moving for ParticipACTION, a national physical activity and sport initiative that aims to make exercise a part of every-day life.
“I never knew how much I did in a month until I filled everything in that I had to do and that I did do and it was great,” said Bill Thurber, one of the local participants.
“We’d walk and walk and walk and when it was raining, we went around 10x around the loop in the home and we played with the young kids that would come over on Fridays, we loved that. We’d play axes, and throwing the bean bags,” added Alice Jones, another participant.
During the challenge, the town held over 70 free events to encourage everyone to get involved, including walking groups, Learn to Play Clinics, and age-friendly activities at local nursing homes.
Between organized activities and people tracking their individual exercise, officials say Salisbury held the number one spot in New Brunswick for the entire month starting June 2 and fluctuated from first to fifth place nationally before clinching the gold at the end.
“I think it’s great. I think it’s the greatest thing that’s happened,” said Thurber.
In total, Salisbury residents and organizations had over 10.4 million minutes of physical activity for the month of June.
“Just really proud of everybody and super excited about how everybody came together,” said Donna Hunwicks Hopper, the Recreation Coordinator for the town.
“I guess it kind of gives you goosebumps.”
While the town has definitely earned bragging rights, the first place win also came with a $100,000 prize. Officials say that money will now be added to the $15,000 prize Salisbury won last year for being number one provincially.
“It will make a huge difference here in a small community… and ultimately, because our residence won this challenge collectively, we’re going to see what they want to do with this money,” said Henderson.
“We’re hoping to put together five or six [options], everything from trail connectivity, to upgraded playgrounds, to maybe even an upgraded outdoor skating rink and then we’ll ask them to rank them and hope that they have their say and see what the community wants us to spend their money on.”
He adds the hope is to put money towards multiple projects in order to spread it as far as they can.
“It just showed me how many people in Salisbury are willing to get out and be active and that we can just grow it and grow it from here because I think everybody should be active, it’s the best thing you can do for your health,” said Fran Bowdrige, another participant.
While the town is currently focusing on celebrating, there is already ambition growing when it comes to next year’s ParticipACTION competition.
“Part of me said ‘yay we won, we don’t have to do it next year,’ but now I realize that we can win two years in a row. So it’s like ‘bring it on, we can do this again,’” said Bowdrige.
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