‘Streets Alive!’ returns to F-M downtown area

Three miles of downtown Fargo and Moorhead were alive with bikers, walkers, dancers, rollerbladers and all sorts of moving people from noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday.

Streets Alive! is an event organized by the Cass Clay Healthy People Initiative and Active in Moorhead and began in August 2010. Their mission is to make the Fargo-Moorhead community healthier and to specifically promote healthy living in children age 19 and younger.

Melissa and Ryan Brodsho, as well as little Hendrix in his stroller, spent the afternoon walking around looking at events. The event was well advertised in the community, said Melissa, “how could we not hear about it?” The couple walked through the entire area, enjoying exciting events such as NDSU alum and triple jumper Olympian Amanda Smock, and enjoying free veggie kabobs on Eat and Greet Street.

The Eat and Greet Street station, on the bridge on 1st Avenue North, had farmer’s market produce, corn on the cob and grilled veggie kabobs. NDSU Team Maker and Track and Field coach Don Larson was kept busy grilling the kabobs until the very end of the day. Larson is a friend of the Healthy People Initiative Director Rory Beil, who approached him last year to ask if he would want to help with the Streets Alive! event. As an active member of the NDSU community, as well as a proud NDSU father, Larson said he has “been using this grill for quite a while.” New to the kabobs were purple potatoes that tasted even better than they already looked.

Back for his second Streets Alive! NDSU Sophomore Karl Klindworth was dressed up as a carrot at the booth to promote the free kabobs. Klindworth also supported the NDSU food science club, running over to grab some fresh grilled corn at the club’s station.

Klindworth and the club members joked, “All we need now is a pea!”

Students from the food science club handed out freshly grown and grilled corn, which allowed them to not only promote fresh and healthy food but also to raise money for scholarships.

“We’ve already raised about $1000,” the club members said. “The NDSU cafeteria has bought quite a bit of corn, and we also sell it on the streets,” food science club president Samantha Briss added.

The members of the club picked the corn on Saturday, and grilled it fresh as passerby bought a piece. To promote healthier eating, it was extra to add spread butter on the corn. Grilled corn was $1 without butter, and they also sold half a dozen fresh for $2.

Anyone could partake in the event and could start anywhere on the three-mile route. Activity stations included Zumba, whirling hoola hoops, martial arts demonstrations and dancing.

The headquarters of Streets Alive! was located at Broadway and 2nd Avenue in Fargo, where Streets Alive! t-shirts were on sale for $10 and a sign up for “Join the Movement” helped spread the word of continuing healthy living after the event.

The highlight of the event was Olympic Hour at 2 p.m. on Broadway, where participants could run, jump and throw with U.S. Olympians such as Smock, who drew a lot of the crowd.

Before and after Smock, NDSU pole vaulters were launching near Fargo Theater, and participants could join Fargo Force members in shooting pucks by the US Bank Plaza.

Streets Alive! is an annual Fargo-Moorhead event to promote healthier living. For more information visit www.fargomoorhead.org