A crowd of over 250 people joined together at Courthouse Square to kick-off Walk!Downtown Dayton June 28, 2006. Participants registered for the program and learned about ways to get fit downtown. The first 100 received a free goodie bag, and all were entered into a door prize drawing.

Dr. Kate Cauly from the Center for Healthy Communities awarded the prizes and introduced the celebrities who had volunteered to lead each of the 8 walking trails. Among these were Mayor Rhine McLin, County Commissioner Charles Curran, Natasha Williams from Channel 7 and Mary McCarty from Dayton Daily News.

Before setting off, there was a warm-up by a local YMCA fitness instructor with even some of the local wildlife joining in. They then followed their local celebrity guide along a scenic downtown walking route.