Forest Park recreation officials urged residents to take part in an upcoming suicide-prevention 5K and a mental-health festival and announced fall wellness and youth-sports registration. “This month is suicide-prevention awareness month,” the recreation representative said, noting the city will hold a Sept. 27 5K and the Free Your Mind Festival that same afternoon.

The recreation speaker said the Free Your Mind Festival will include mental-health vendors, motivational speakers, doctors, live performances, bounce houses and free massages. The 5K is described as the “27th annual” local event tied to suicide-prevention and mental-health outreach. The speaker also said the city plans to show the Georgia vs. Florida (Alabama) game that evening as part of the festival’s activities.

Officials also announced an Oct. 18 Pink Panther Breast Cancer Awareness Walk. The recreation speaker said walking is free and that t-shirts are available for $5 and that registration is open. City staff also said registration for the youth basketball league is beginning, and noted the city’s senior “legacy” program recently ran a daylong trip to Blue Ridge Mountain.

Why it matters: organizers said the events are part of the city’s broader outreach to residents on health and youth programming and are intended to connect families with services and recreation opportunities. The recreation office provided an email for questions and registration: recreationleisure@forestparkga.gov.

Additional details: the recreation office encouraged parents and residents to attend and participate in programming; no fees or additional funding sources were mentioned beyond the $5 t-shirt charge. The city did not provide participant caps or start/finish locations for the 5K during the update. For more information, the recreation office directed residents to contact the recreation center or use the provided email.

Residents interested in the events were asked to register early; organizers did not announce specific registration deadlines in the meeting.