On Saturday, the Cascade City-County Health Department, Great Falls Business Improvement District and Building Active Communities Initiative are adding a new crosswalk at CCHD and repainting two crosswalks in the alley the Roberts Park Playground between 5th Street South and 6th Street South.

The crosswalks will help make Great Falls more walkable and will be hand-painted by community members to add color and art to downtown.

Volunteers will be painting at 3:30 p.m. at CCHD, 115 4th St. S.

The project is funded by BID with paint donated from Sherwin Williams.

“We painted two crosswalks by Roberts Playground in 2016 and the community really seemed to enjoy having crosswalk art downtown,” said Joan Redeen, BID community director. “The crosswalks had faded so it seemed like a good time to repaint them and add another painted crosswalk at CCHD to make downtown safer and more beautiful.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that physical activity is an important part of keeping people healthy and encourages communities to design, develop and deliver convenient places to be physically active for its residents. CCHD, BID and BACI hope that beautiful crosswalks will make it easier for pedestrians to utilize downtown and encourage walking instead of driving, according to a release.

Portions of the painted areas will be closed to traffic from 3 p.m. Friday through Sunday afternoon.

For information on the day of the event contact Joan Redeen at 727-5430.