Participants of Healthiest Ames on Sunday could enjoy an afternoon full of healthy activities including free Zumba, Insanity and yoga classes in downtown Ames.

Downtown streets were blocked off for the event, so the public could enjoy open, automobile-free streets. A total of 23 different stations were spread out between Burnett Avenue and Douglass Avenue.

Ames Parks and Recreation set up bags, a basketball hoop, tricycle races and a putting station for children at the event.

“Healthy Streets help builds the community and is an opportunity for families to come and be active together,” said Healthiest Streets board member Gail Johnston

At last year’s event, 94 percent of participants reported meeting the daily recommendation for physical activity (at least 30 minutes a day), while 82 percent of participants reported exceeding the daily-recommended amount of activity.

Healthy Streets also helped encourage community engagement and created a positive outlook on the Main Street District. Overall, 52.8 percent of people reported Healthy Streets made them more aware of a local business and 88.9 percent of survey participants enjoyed their experience at Healthy Streets.

Participants also enjoyed a positive atmosphere full of increased physical activity.

Ames resident Tim Gossett biked to the event with his son.

“I love it when the whole downtown is blocked off and there is an event for living healthy that encourages kids activities,” Gossett said. 

Many participants said they would like to see more events like this take place in Ames on a monthly basis.

Burnett Avenue was transformed to resemble a complete street. Complete streets are bike- and car-friendly streets that help increase physical activity, promote more safety and help our environment by decreasing the amount of people using cars as transportation.

Many large cities are already enacting the complete streets policy.

The Ames temporary complete street included a protected two-way bike lane, street bike parking, different street buffers and a two-way car lane.

Participants were able to experience complete streets for themselves, use the two-way bike lane and park their bikes at the street bike parking.

Ames is in the beginning stages of making complete streets a reality. The ISU design lab has created complete street designs, helped increase awareness about the project and educated the public about complete streets.

Chad Hunter, lecturer of landscape architecture, said there is still a lack of awareness for alternate means of transportation and bike-friendly streets in Ames.

Hunter said the public has the biggest influence and needs to rally behind it if it wants to see complete streets become a reality.