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The City of Albemarle will host a ribbon cutting ceremony for the Downtown Walking Routes at 10 a.m. Thursday at YMCA Park, 427 N. 1st St.

The City of Albemarle has installed 11 walking routes throughout the downtown Albemarle area. These walking routes are a collaboration between five city departments and two community organizations. The five city departments are Administration, Parks & Recreation, Planning & Development Services, Public Works and Economic Development. The two community organizations are Stanly County YMCA and Vac & Dash.

The partnership between the two community organizations include the ability to install the kiosk in the YMCA Park and a $2,500 donation from Vac & Dash.

A kiosk is in the YMCA Park that displays the maps for all of the walking routes.

Benches are also located around the kiosk.

Sidewalk medallions have been installed as a wayfinding system on the trails. The medallions are color coded to identify the trail on the map.

Maps and directions for each walking route are available at
https://www.albemarlenc.gov/departments/parks-and-recreation/downtown-walking-routes.

“We are honored to provide these new amenities to our community,” said Lisa Kiser, director of Parks & Recreation. “These walking routes will allow for better connectivity through downtown, a safe place for active transportation and modes for economic impact for our downtown businesses.”