Madawaska Wellness Network

City of Edmundston wins National Wellness competition.

A few years back, at the beginning of Edmundston’s Wellness journey, the statistics weren’t promising. Citizens were making poor eating choices and many were inactive. The community decided to take on wellness together.

Fast forward to 2012 and a whole lot has changed! The City of Edmundston recently won the CBC Live Right Now Challenge (a National Wellness Competition that earned the city a $100,000 grant to support the development of a natural playground), and has seen a real shift in the way its residents think about healthy living. A parade to celebrate wellness and physical activity demos in the community drew a crowd of 3000!

This year, during the summer season, Edmundston put on a number of free outdoor classes, including Zumba, aerobics and yoga. In addition, the city has seen a variety of Health Fairs, Wellness promotional days and the recent opening of a bike and hiking trail system that covers more than 40km of track. The initiatives continue to move forward, and organizers are very pleased with their success so far. Next year marks the opening of the much-anticipated Ecological Park and Sporting Pavilion in the city, and over the winter months free classes will continue to be offered to interested participants.