PASCO, Wash. –
Virtual Tours have become a more popular model for encouraging people to exercise during the pandemic. They do this by giving runners a mile goal to reach and often have pictures and even information along the route to encourage you to keep going.
Pasco Parks and Recreation Services Manager, Brent Kubalek, said for this years Pasco Park History tour they want to encourage people to be active in any way.
“You can walk, you can run, you can bike, you can row a boat, you can do your treadmill at home,” he said.
He said you can even convert gardening into miles that count toward that 43.5 mile route across Pasco that goes through the different parks in the city.
As you enter the number of miles you’ve travelled you’ll get an email with information about the parks you “pass by” as you reach them by entering the number of miles you’ve gone. The route is possible to do in person technically, but Kubalek said, “a lot of times it takes you on trails and sidewalks and whatnot, but some of the route may not be the safest for actually doing.”
He said the virtual challenge gives people the ability to do as much as they want at a time and even allows people from outside of Pasco to join in on learning about the city.
“People can participate whether they’re here in the Tri-Cities, Pasco, or the nation or the world,” he said.
The prize for completing the challenge a medal that shows some of the parks along the route giving participants from April to October to complete.
He said the parks and recreation department plans to do one a year with different themes and history for each.
