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Syracuse University alum Erin Cunia remembers strolling through Onondaga Lake Park with the CNY Folksmarch walking club, pushing her son in a stroller. Thirty-two years later, she still walks with CNY Folksmarch, now with her grandchild.

“Walking is life, right?” Cunia said. “We have to walk everywhere – but be intentional about walking, (and) doing it because it’s good for your heart, it’s just good for your overall health.”

Members of CNY Folksmarch gather the second weekend of each month to walk in new locations around central New York. Groups of walkers mingled with mall shoppers this weekend at Destiny USA for the first event of the year.

The club began in the late 1970s, when Walt Price and his wife took part in a local Volksmarch event while on a trip in Germany. Volksmarch means “people’s walk” in German, and they decided to bring the event back home to central New York as “Folksmarch.”

CNY Folksmarch was founded in October 1981 as a YMCA program. In 2007, the organization incorporated and became a nonprofit.

When the club began, they did trips for large walking events. They traveled to Western Canada, Hawaii, Scotland, England, Germany and France in their early years. Once, they went to Toronto with five busloads of walkers.

Walt still comes back to Folksmarch events, and this weekend purchased a membership for 2024. It makes him proud to see the event carrying on the legacy he started, and watching newer walkers join the group of regulars.

Nancy Warner has been a member of the club for more than 15 years. She keeps coming back because of the combination of socialization and exercise the club provides.

“It takes you places that you’ve never walked before and then you find new and interesting things,” Warner said. “You would never go there unless you were going to go to a Folksmarch.”

Warner said a big draw of the club in years past was its trips. She remembers families loading into buses to go on walks all over the country and beyond.

Kelly Matlock | Culture Editor

From central New York parks to Hawaii, the CNY Folksmarch gets pins for each walk they participate in. The club has been getting pins for 40 years.

Each walk has its own personalized button with a design matching the location of the event. Besides the trips, Warner said the pins and buttons provided for each walk are an incentive for people to join.

Along with buttons, the sign-up booths at each event have activities for children and families. Coloring pages with cartoon illustrations of families and friends walking are labeled with phrases “I love walking with my family” and “I love walking with friends.”

“I think that the young people have more interesting things (than walking clubs) that they want to do. Maybe they go to the gym to get their exercise and their socialization,” Warner said. “They really don’t know what they’re missing out on.”

June Joseph has been part of CNY Folksmarch for two and a half years. She brought her sister along with her this weekend to kick off the year.

Joseph loves the aspect of the group that facilitates new friendships. As a teacher, she “can talk to anybody,” so walking with new people gives her socialization that she enjoys.

Joseph and her former husband traveled all over the state while they were married, but after he passed away in 2020, she didn’t want to hike alone. When she spotted an advertisement for CNY Folksmarch in a newspaper at the grocery store, she decided to sign up.

“It’s been a lot of fun,” Joseph said. “I met a lot of different people and found places around Syracuse I never knew existed.”

In recent years, they have walked in central New York cities like Skaneateles, Rome and Liverpool. They walk indoors to accommodate central New York weather and the different fitness levels of walkers.

“I love the outdoors,” Cunia said. “I love just the quiet of it and the calm of it, so it’s just an enjoyable thing and I love to encourage it in others.”

Cunia has developed relationships with the walkers that come every month, and has become friends with her fellow volunteers. She said it is nice to see people come back and start making the walking club a habit.

“Born and raised in Syracuse, lived here my whole life (but) I’m discovering places that I never knew existed, and there are so many places to walk in the central New York area,” Cunia said. “A lot of times you just need an excuse to go someplace.”

Published on January 14, 2024 at 11:56 pm