Fun & Easy Exercise at your local Big-D Sports Park

Big-D Sports Park, located at 1376 Park Blvd. in downtown Ogden, has a new exciting addition -- physical activity stations! If your family is looking for an inexpensive way to get some fun exercise, look no further. The 9 stations offer a full body workout on safe and easy-to-use equipment. The design allows for people of all ages to participate.

The GOAL Foundations and other partners worked to create the stations last fall and they are still a work-in-progress. Carla Taylor, who has been an employee at GOAL Foundation for 3 ½ years knows all about the process of creating the stations.

Taylor, a former Weber State women’s basketball coach, was hired at GOAL Foundation because they wanted a full-time employee to be in charge of the youth program and community outreach. “It was a perfect way to stay involved and give back and be a part of the Ogden community.”

The idea for the Big-D Park stations came from Jeff Furton, a past youth committee chair, who always dreamed of having an exercise course from GOAL along the Ogden Marathon course. “More than anything [he wanted to] provide a means for kids to have fun, take their parents, and make it a family atmosphere down on the trail and combine that with physical activity.”

Taylor says that individuals from several organizations wanted to participate in creating the stations. “It was different community partners that came together and said, ‘Let’s put our heads together and make this happen.'”

The GOAL Foundation was ultimately able to make the stations happen with a grant from Intermountain Healthcare and the Weber County RAMP (Recreation, Arts, Museums, Parks) grant which provided the funds to make the stations. Ogden City was also instrumental because it is on city land, and officials wanted GOAL to keep the grass area open since it’s a popular area to fly kites since there are no power lines overhead. Sponsors helped pay for each station. Taylor says a few are still open.

There are no plans to replicate these physical activity stations in the Ogden area. “It’s hard to find a place that you have space that you’re able to use and the community would have access to, but we do have [Big-D Sports Park].”

Officials plan to introduce the station to the public with a community breakfast and activity later this summer.

Taylor says, “My hopes, and I think the GOAL Foundation’s hopes, are that people use it, we see it full all the time, and instead of going to the gym to do Crossfit now, maybe go down to the park once a week as your workout and do the exercise course.”

For more information visit:

http://www.getoutandlive.org/

http://www.ogdencity.com/community/parks/big_dee_sports_park.aspx

Local Utah Farmers Markets Pave the Way to a Healthier Diet

Are you anxiously awaiting farmers market season? Good news, if you live in Weber County, the options to shop at a farmers market are growing.

Susan Crosthwait and her family advocate for healthy lifestyles. They decided to start a year-round farmers market after their oldest daughter fell ill. They tried different ways to improve her health and found eating organic foods helped the most. However, they soon discovered it can get extremely expensive. “This is why we’re here, is to bring down the cost of eating well,” Crosthwait says.

Willard Peak Organic Market opened last October when the market received approval in Marriott-Slaterville. Since then, the market moved to its Farr West location at 2687 N. 2000 W. It is open Thursdays and Fridays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The market has one additional seasonal location at the Harrisville City Park at 1350 N. Hwy 89 on Thursdays from 5:30 - 8 p.m. (June 23 - October 13).

Crosthwait says they have educated their community to help them understand not everyone has a garden or access to the things they need to grow one. They have given out seeds to farmers, and, in return, the farmers have brought produce to their farmers market. So far they have received crops such as lettuce, dill, parsley and rhubarb.

The bulk of produce in the farmers market comes from Mexico and California during the wintertime. Some of the produce comes from suppliers in Salt Lake City and southern Utah. Starting in June, Crosthwait says they will have more local produce such as strawberries, cherries and lettuce.

“We are a food desert,” she says. “We have low access to food here.” To help address this, the Crosthwaits participate in the Double Up Food Bucks program. Residents on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly Food Stamps) can receive an additional $1 in produce for every $1 spent on local produce, seeds or food-bearing plants up to a total of $10 per week. They can use this benefit every week they go to the markets in Harrisville by using their SNAP (also food stamp, Horizon or EBT) card and receiving green tokens to purchase produce. Farmers Market Ogden also offers the same benefits for those closer to Downtown Ogden, which will run Saturdays from 9 a.m. - 2 p.m. during June 25 - September 17.

Crosthwait found the program on a Google search one day when researching food stamps and wanted to participate in Double Up Food Bucks because she saw the need in her community. She says the majority of students at a nearby school are on free lunches. “We’ve had those people in our hearts for a long, long time,” she says. "This will directly benefit children and families.”

Crosthwait says they are still working on bringing down the cost of food because it isn’t quite where they would like it to be. “The cost of organic is actually cheaper than conventional, but they have the mentality that they need to charge more for it because people will pay for it, but that’s not our mentality.”

According to the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food, there is a certification process that farmers must go through to be certified as an organic producer, including a three-year period during which the land cannot be treated with prohibited fertilizers and pesticides.

The hope of Willard Peak Organic Market is to educate the community more on healthy living. Since there is low access to affordable healthy food for many individuals in the community, Crosthwait believes their farmers market’s mission to bring down costs of organic foods and allow individuals on food stamps to have the opportunity to get fresh, local produce will help.

“The access to grocery stores is one to ten miles, so what you’ll see is clusters of fast food restaurants in between the food desert and the grocery store,” Crosthwait says. Instead of making dinner, individuals may choose the fast food because it’s closer. Crosthwait feels that since their location is directly before the fast-food restaurant that they are “strategically located.”

She says, “You can heal yourself through food. Our food is so polluted, and eating healthy can make you feel better.”

Visit these websites more information:

http://www.willardpeakorganics.com/

https://www.facebook.com/willardpeakorganicmarket/

http://www.uah.org/projects-initiatives/fms/