‘Walk Around Philadelphia’ — a 100-mile trek over several weekends — starts Friday

Artist and photographer J.J. Tiziou first set out in 2016 to walk the perimeter of Philadelphia as part of a project with three city-based fellow artists.

That “Walk Around Philadelphia” has since become a regular event, growing in size with its own panoramic exhibit of photographs and maps of the walk displayed at Cherry Street Pier.

A new roughly 100-mile-long walk, broken into about 10-mile segments over four weekends, kicks off Friday with a 9- to 10-mile hike from 61st Street and Baltimore Avenue to Philadelphia International Airport. Saturday’s 11-mile jaunt runs around the airport. And Sunday’s 12- to 13-mile trek will take walkers from the airport’s edge to the Philadelphia Shipyard.

The following weekends will take walkers through various parts of the city including Bridesburg, the Schuylkill Environmental Education Center, Fox Chase, St. Joseph’s University, and Somerton. The event concludes Sept. 23 with a bonus walk at Cherry Street Pier and a closing celebration of the exhibit.

Cost is $25 per walk, with a reduced student rate of $15. Fractured Atlas, an arts-focused nonprofit, is Walk Around Philadelphia’s fiscal sponsor, meaning it serves as the conduit for donations. Fees go toward supporting Walk Around Philadelphia, paying segment guides, and for signs that get posted at some locations along the route.

Some segments are already filled, but potential walkers can still get on waiting lists. Some free registrations are available.

Start times vary, and Tiziou tries to keep them aligned with SEPTA schedules.

“The walk is split up into 12 segments, which makes them a little bit more accessible,” Tiziou said. “I usually advertise the walk as being about a 100-mile adventure, but in reality it becomes closer to 115 or 120.”

Tiziou said his first, and subsequent walks, have been eye-opening, giving participants a view of the city they might never encounter. And some of the segments end with an optional dinner. He said the group aims to draw an inclusive group that pulls from the city’s demographics.

“We have some of our veteran walkers signing on as trail angels to come along and surprise walkers with snacks along the way on certain segments, which is a really sweet bit of sort of hiking culture finding its way into this project,” Tiziou said. “This thing is continuing to seep its way into the city’s culture.”

Tiziou, 44, moved to Philly in 1997 and calls it his adopted city. He lives in West Philadelphia. “It felt like home the minute I got here,” he said.

He said the walk is revelatory when you take it with neighbors or people from different backgrounds.

“You start off with strangers; you end up with friends,” he said. “Part of it is humbling. You get a sense of the scale of the city. I thought I knew the city fairly pretty well, but my ideas were rooted in the Center City skyline, historic district, business districts and my own neighborhood.”

The walk has taken him past woods, parks, ports and horse stables. He’s seen highly urbanized areas, but also herons, hawks, deer and cows.

Through it all, Tiziou said, he’s learned how “awe-inspiring of how big and how complicated Philadelphia is. ”

To register for Walk Around Philadelphia, go to www.WalkAroundPhiladelphia.com.