More communities in Mississippi are becoming health conscious and looking at ways to support the health of their residents. They increase walkability with sidewalks and bike lanes or embrace wellness amenities like group fitness, fitness centers, and healthy food options. Residents can be encouraged to explore local nature with designated walking trails. Community gardening can also enhance community engagement and improve health. The Belhaven Heights community hopes to bridge several of these to enhance the greater Jackson community’s health and engagement with a new outdoor fitness center.
The National Fitness Campaign (NFC), Greater Belhaven Foundation, Community Foundation of Mississippi and Jackson Heart Foundation announced that Belhaven Heights Park has been selected as one of only ten locations nationwide for a one-of-a-kind Keith Haring outdoor Fitness Court® as part of the 2024 National Fitness Campaign. NFC is an award-winning initiative that welcomed its 500th healthy community in 2023 and is now funded to deliver vital outdoor wellness programs to 1,000 healthy communities by 2025 to help get people moving outdoors and to fight the rising fiscal and humanitarian costs of physical inactivity.
The Keith Haring Fitness Court initiative was born in 2020 as part of NFC’s Arts and Culture Series, uniting the world-renowned art of Keith Haring, one of the most influential modern artists in American history, with the world’s best outdoor gym in the Fitness Court. Jackson was originally selected by the Keith Haring Foundation as one of the national sites for the court in 2019. Its original site was the pocket park on Woodrow Wilson across from the Children’s Hospital. The project stalled after the equipment was procured during the COVID emergency.
“The equipment has been sitting in a warehouse from 2019 until July of this year,” shared Mary Alex Thigpen, the Greater Belhaven Foundation executive director. “The Greater Belhaven Foundation and residents of Belhaven Heights wanted to see it get put to use and proposed relocating the fitness court to the Belhaven Heights neighbor and linking it with additional museum trails and future assets to come.”
The Greater Belhaven Foundation began a letter-writing campaign, received the support of Ward Seven Councilwoman Virgo Lindsay, and took their ideas to the City of Jackson. Jackson’s city council voted to allow them to relocate the project.
“After gaining approval from the City of Jackson,” shared Thigpen. “A committee convened to design the court in the Belhaven Heights Park and secure funding to construct a concrete pad, install the court and other elements to make it safe and accessible.”
The new Keith Haring Fitness Court at Belhaven Heights Park allows users to leverage their own body weight to get a complete workout using seven stations in just seven minutes. Created for people aged 14 and over and with all abilities in mind, the workouts are adaptable for all fitness levels, allowing participants to move at their own pace.
The location at Belhaven Heights Park offers a significant tie-in with the existing outdoor recreational amenities in Greater Belhaven, including a direct physical connection to the Museum Trail and close proximity to the Belhaven Mountain Biking Trails, and will energize the park as a community.
“We are so excited for this addition to our neighborhood,” shared Thigpen. “Local students are coming out to get in the first workouts and celebrate the ribbon cutting.”
The Greater Belhaven Foundation, which serves Mississippi’s first community improvement district, will host a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the facility on September 26 at 10 a.m.
