An outdoor walking labyrinth is set to be built at Fairview Park in St. Catharines. 

It will be the first of its kind in a public park in the city thanks to the support of the City of St. Catharines, Kiwanis Club of St. Catharines and the Valhalla Project Niagara.

“You’re going to see a lot more people gravitating to spaces like this where there is the opportunity to push the world aside and focus on what’s right in front of you,” St. Catharines Mayor Walter Sendzik said in an interview on Morning Live.

Labyrinths are mainly used to support first responders with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), one of the initiatives the Valhalla Project Niagara supports through mental health treatment, education and advocacy.

“Some people can’t sit and meditate, so this is a walking meditation, a metaphor that you can keep moving forward,” Shawn Bennett, a director with the Valhalla Project Niagara, said in a statement.

“There’s lots of twists and turns and you might head back in the other direction, but there’s no dead ends. You will find your centre if you keep moving forward.”

The labyrinth will feature a grass walkway with seating and landscaping around it.

It will also be dedicated to all the service animals bringing “calm to suffering people as the labyrinth will,” Bennett said.

Construction of the labyrinth will begin in the coming months.