Wellness Walks are a free community walking program organized by the Chicago Parks Foundation, presented with local partners throughout Chicago parks. They are an invitation for community members to get outside into the parks and enjoy guided walk-and-talks as a form of accessible exercise, wellbeing, and connection. 

From April through October annually, Wellness Walks are hosted at a number of participating parks in partnership with local institutions. Each 45-minute walk is guided by a designated “pro” and focuses on a topic related to big-picture wellness, ranging from sleep and nutrition with our medical experts, to local biodiversity with our naturalist guides.

Wellness Walks are a free, low-pressure way to get moving, connect with fellow community members, learn about your own wellbeing, and enjoy our beautiful parks.

Wellness Walks are presented by the Chicago Parks Foundation (CPF). Since 2013, CPF has served as the nonprofit and community-building partner of the Chicago parks. CPF is an independent 501c3 organization that works closely with the Chicago Park District. It’s our mission to build a stronger community dedicated to supporting and conserving our city’s parks - Wellness Walks have become a great “on the ground” way to do that.

In 2021, CPF created the Wellness Walks program in partnership with Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. In the years since, we have continued to build out additional partnerships to bring Wellness Walks to more parks throughout our city. CPF staff manage the “behind-the-scenes” planning of the program throughout the year to provide support to our leaders, partners and participants (more on that below), but we do not lead the walks - that’s where you come in!

Walk leaders from each of our partner institutions are instrumental in the success of the program. We really couldn’t do it without you, and we are so grateful for each walk leader’s time, energy and expertise. 

Walk participants hear about this program through a variety of digital and print communications, and register online to attend one or more walks throughout the season. The walks are free to attend and walk-up registration is available. Attendance and demographics vary depending on park location, but we have seen overall that the majority of participants are seniors who might already spend time walking in their local park or are looking for a new way to get outdoors, learn something new, and connect with their community.

Please note that we remind walk participants when they register, “Wellness Walk leaders do not provide medical advice. All conversation is meant to be casual and general.” Please know you’re not expected to answer any personal medical questions walk participants may ask you. The walk topics and conversations are meant to be general and applicable to the general population.

Locations vary each year depending on our partners. For example, in 2025 we had groups at 7 different parks in Chicago:

• West Ridge Nature Park (Northwest Side)

• Humboldt Park (West Side)

• Lake Shore Park (Streeterville)

• Douglass Park (West Side)

• Burnham Park (South Side)

• Promontory Point (South Side)

• Arrigo Park (Little Italy)

In our experience, bigger parks offer more opportunities to vary the walking route throughout the season. But any park with a path works! Some of the above parks even have a paved looped walking track. Park locations are typically chosen in proximity to the partner organization.

Most walks happen between mid-April and mid-October, when Chicago weather is (for the most part) nice for outdoor walking. There’s no set start and end date within these months - it’s up to the partner organization and walk leaders to decide how long their walk season will go depending on schedules and availability, and to coordinate accordingly with the Chicago Parks Foundation.