The streets of Medicine Hat will fill with sunshine and rainbows as part of the CMHA's Paint the City Positive campaign.--PHOTO CREDIT TO MEDICINE HAT PUBLIC LIBRARY
kking@medicinehatnews.com
Colourful drawings and messages are popping up around Medicine Hat in anticipation for the Canadian Mental Health Association’s Paint the City Positive campaign, which kicks off Saturday.
“It’s actually the first time we’ve done this event,” Shelby MacPhail, CMHA KIT program and events and marketing co-ordinator, told the News. “We are hoping to have the entire city sort of painted with positive messages. After the last couple years, it’s nice for people to get out and engage with the community. This is a safe way for people to spread positivity between one another and share positive messages, so it should be good for everyone’s wellness.”
Paint the City Positive’s launch coincides with CMHA’s Mental Health Awareness Week, happening May 2-8. Throughout the week a variety of activities will take place locally, like the Move for Mental Health Fun Run/ Walk, taking place in Kin Coulee Park on Sunday.
“We were trying to have those positive messages out in the park for people who will be walking and running,” said MacPhail. “Just messages of positivity, uplifting things, even just drawings you feel are positive. Whatever you think might inspire or uplift someone else.”
Interested parties are invited to attend CMHA’s Kin Coulee Park event at 9 a.m. Saturday, or Visitor Information Centre’s event running from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., at which Lethbridge chalk artist Eric Dyck will be present.
Hatters can also express themselves by decorating their driveways, sidewalks, one of the city’s public walking trails, or one of their community partner’s locals, such as the Veiner Centre, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Big Marble Go Centre, the Medicine Hat Public Library, McMan, Nutters, the Root Cellar and Sugar Daddy Cheesecakes.
Paint the City Positive is funded, in part, by the city and Family and Community Support Services.
