A year ago this week, my wife and I started a free community walk on Baltimore Avenue in Hyattsville. More than 30 people showed up. This Saturday it becomes a county-wide Fitness Fair and I want to tell you how we got here.
Hey r/Hyattsville —
Disclosure first: I own Haraka Run and Walk at 5501 Baltimore Avenue #106. This is about our event. But I want to tell you the actual story before I ask for anything.
The first annual Prince George's County Fitness Fair
A year ago this week, my wife Carol and I stood outside our running store on a Wednesday morning and wondered if anyone would come. We had just opened Prince George's County's first running specialty store in December. We had been in the county long enough to know that people here wanted to move — they just didn't always have somewhere to move toward. So we started something simple. Every Wednesday evening, we walked. Free, open to everyone, no registration, no gear required. Just show up and go.
More than 30 people came that first week.
We didn't know if this was a flash-in-the-pan, and if anyone would show up the next week. Heck, we didn't know if this would last a month. We kept showing up anyway.
Here's what happened over the next year. Regulars became runners. Strangers became training partners. People who had never run a mile in their lives started running miles. People who ran alone found people to run with. On rainy Wednesdays, we expected five people and twelve showed up. In the summer heat, we expected dropoff and got the opposite. Prince George's County, it turns out, had been waiting for somewhere to go.
Fifty-two Wednesdays later, we're ready for the next chapter.
This Saturday, July 18 — the first annual Prince George's County Fitness Fair.
5501 Baltimore Avenue, Hyattsville. Free to attend. 8 AM to 3 PM.
Here's what we built:
More than a dozen health and fitness businesses from across Prince George's County will be on-site — gyms, yoga studios, dojos, spas, massage therapists, physical therapists, chiropractors, and wellness providers. If you've ever wanted to know what the full health and fitness ecosystem of this county actually looks like, Saturday is the day you find out.
Major national running shoe brands will be there with demo product and brand representatives. Put the shoes on your feet and talk to people who know them inside and out. No purchase required.
Local run clubs and running groups from across Prince George's County and the DMV will be present. If you have been running solo and looking for your people, Saturday is where you find them.
Inside the store, we are running Christmas in July pricing — our biggest deals of the year on apparel and gear, that weekend only only.
And at 8 AM, we are putting a starting line on the Rhode Island Avenue Trolley Trail.
The 5K Fun Run is 3.1 miles — all ages, all paces, no chip timing, no competition, no pressure. There are no awards and no rankings. It is just you and your neighbors on a Saturday morning in July doing something that felt hard once and now feels possible. The Kids Dash is at 8:30 AM for the youngest runners.
Registration for the 5K and Kids Dash is here: https://runsignup.com/Race/MD/Hyattsville/PrinceGeorgeSCountyFitnessFair5KAndKidsFunRun
I want to be honest about what this day means to me.
We didn't open a running store in Prince George's County because the math was obvious. We opened it because this county — nearly 900,000 people, one of the most educated and economically powerful majority-Black counties in the country — didn't have one. The people here were driving to other markets to get properly fit for shoes. They were missing from the starting lines of races in their own backyard. That's not a market gap. That's a representation gap. And closing it felt like something worth doing.
The Wednesday Weekly Walk was the proof. Prince George's County doesn't lack energy or ambition or the desire to move. It never did. It just needed somewhere to go.
Saturday is that place. For one day, Baltimore Avenue becomes the most comprehensive fitness and wellness gathering this county has ever hosted. And the Wednesday Walk is how we earned the right to say that.
If you've ever come out on a Wednesday evenings, thank you. Saturday is for you.
If you've never heard of us before today, Saturday is still for you.
The fair is free. The street is open. The county is invited.
Come join your neighbors. — Jesse Holland, Haraka Run and Walk