MARYSVILLE — The city of Marysville invites area families to get started on getting fit this summer at the fifth annual Healthy Communities Challenge Day, a free community celebration designed to inspire citizens to reach their health, nutrition and fitness goals.

Challenge Day will run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturday, June 1, at Allen Creek Elementary School, located at 6505 60th Dr. NE in Marysville. Registration for Snohomish County’s Get Movin’ summer fitness program will also be available on site, to help motivate families to adopt more active lifestyles.

“Marysville strives to go the distance in being a more fit and health-conscious community,” Marysville Mayor Jon Nehring said. “Take the challenge, and help us kick off a healthy summer at Challenge Day.”

Challenge Day offers participants a venue to explore and learn more about fitness, nutrition, gardening, physical health and recreation, and to meet face-to-face with many community organizations, with a host of interactive activities and demonstrations thrown in.

Challenge Day will feature numerous health and fitness activities including:

• Free health screenings.

• Fitness demonstrations.

• Live entertainment.

• Hula Hoop giveaways.

• Take-home garden seeds.

• Community services.

• Face painting, and much more.

This year’s Challenge Day will host more than 70 vendors, with an emphasis on interactive activities and fun, according to city of Marysville Recreation Coordinator Andrea Kingsford.

“From the climbing wall to hula hooping, Frisbee golf and Zumba demonstrations, there are plenty of ways to get involved and get active,” Kingsford said.

Challenge Day will feature live entertainment, including performances by Maketa Wilborn and X8 Interactive Drumming at 11 a.m., the Hot Dog Jumpers and a jump rope giveaway at noon, and Seattle musician Johnny Bregar with hand-clapping, foot-stomping children’s music, blending blues and Cajun-flavored Americana tunes.

Marysville Parks and Recreation will promote its 95210 for Health campaign, a community-wide strategy developed by Community Health Solutions that promotes child health and life-long healthy habits for individuals. It’s not a ZIP code, but rather five daily habits for good health — at least nine hours of sleep, five servings of fruits and vegetables daily, two hours of screen time, one hour of physical activity, and zero sugary drinks or tobacco.

Marysville Together partners with the city to put on Challenge Day, aided by their primary sponsor, the Everett Clinic, and numerous other sponsors, according to Kingsford, who also chairs the coalition. Marysville Together is a community partnership that, since the 1980s, has promoted safety, diversity and awareness, and responded to the needs of youth, working together toward a safer and healthier community.

Challenge Day also serves as a venue to celebrate the accomplishments by individuals and organizations involved in the Marysville Healthy Communities Project. Since 2007, the project’s community-based collaborative response has been aimed at reducing obesity in the community and the chronic diseases associated with it.

“Through the Healthy Communities Project, we are seeing real changes in lifestyle in Marysville that will help reduce obesity in our community and the chronic diseases that are linked to it, like diabetes,” city of Marysville Parks and Recreation Director Jim Ballew said.

Miles of new trails — including the Bayview Trail and bike lanes — as well as pedestrian improvements, the Wilcox Farm Community Garden, free walking and swimming programs, a kickball league and other recreational programs are just a few examples of environmental changes that have occurred over the past five years.

For more Challenge Day information, contact Marysville Parks and Recreation at 360-363-8400, or visit the Marysville Healthy Communities Project website at http://marysvillehealthycommunitiesproject.com.