A group of people gather on a Saturday morning in the Eaton Centre, as strangers from all walks of life meet and introduce themselves.

They’ve heard about a community group — Mindful Miles — where all are welcome to participate in a walk through the PATH system.

“What I hope comes out of this is that people feel like, eventually, they can also do stuff like this,” said Happy Town co-organizer Adam Chen.

He and his friend Kai Xie started the weekly meetup as an outdoor walk at High Park, which moved inside for the winter.

“Most people are just so busy with their lives that without this weekly thing it’s hard to make time for connection,” said Xie. “But, now I’m finding myself inviting people to the walks every week. It’s a great way to grow friendships that might not have happened.”

Since beginning more than a year and a half ago, it’s expanded to include interactive activities like creative writing and crafting in one of the underground food courts.

“As we were walking through the PATH, I just saw so many spaces that were empty on Saturday morning that were warm and just seemed really nice,” Chen said.

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“And so, in my head the idea of a third space was, ‘Can we just go hang here, not bother the business or make it hard for the security folks, but spend time with friends.’”

Third places are described as informal public spaces — outside of home and work — where people can gather to socialize and foster community.

“I started seeing people showing up week by week and getting to talk to them more and more and starting to realize the importance it had for them to just have a place to go on Saturday morning to be around people and just be themselves,” said Chen.

More than 20 people showed up on Saturday, many of whom were first-timers, to walk the roughly 10 km route.

Afterwards, more attendees joined in for crafts and discussions.

“It’s just about not only the actual action of getting out of the house in the morning, but it’s also about having curious conversations,” said Godwin Chan.

He has been making the commute from Mississauga regularly since the beginning of Mindful Miles.

“Community is paramount and I knew this group skewed younger before I joined it,” said Shirley Roll. “I thought that was ideal because I realized that almost everyone in my life is my age. Clearly, as I get older that’s going to get smaller.”

First-time attendee Chimezie Chris-Ike said more of this is needed.

“I think our society in general is getting more rigid and people are forced into budgeting their time more strictly as the world gets more expensive,” said Chris-Ike.

“I think we need some places like this to reimagine how we can live together and reimagine what society could look like.”

There are some basic rules for participating: no work talk, networking or using the space as a dating opportunity.

“We just don’t want people to be thinking about work or trying to prove that they’re dateable,” said Chen. “At the same time, we don’t want people to feel the pressure of if someone is coming on to them. All that energy, we say just leave it out of the room and let’s just think of stuff we’re curious about and spend time together.”

Happy Town plans to continue the weekly meetups, welcoming anyone to join their walks at 8 a.m. every Saturday.

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