Sometimes launching a great idea is as simple as taking the first step.
That’s what Hannah Hawkins quickly realized when she started Buffalo Girls Walk, a meet-up group for women looking for easy ways to stay active, meet friends and explore the community together, all while finding safety in numbers.
Last year, Hannah moved from New York City to Buffalo—and went from walking in bustling Big Apple crowds to strolling Allentown’s streets by herself. She only knew a few people here and wanted company to get her steps in to continue her weight loss journey. So she created the Buffalo Girls Walk group on Instagram, built up a small following, and in April 2025, eight people and one dog joined her on the first walk. Now it’s not uncommon for 45 people to go for a stroll together.
“It’s so hard to make new friends as adults,” says Hannah. “But walking is so easy—no skill, no cost, low commitment. And when we’re out walking, you have a chance to talk with someone new, find common backgrounds and interests and realize it’s a person you could really hang out with.”
Buffalo Girls Walk is open to “girls, gays and theys” and includes walkers in their 20s up to their 60s. Hannah says regulars include recent transplants to the area, friend groups who met on Buffalo Girls Walks and now consider each other “their people” and empty nesters reframing social activities in a new era of life. Each walk is about three miles long in a different neighborhood throughout Western New York.
Aside from regularly scheduled jaunts, the group hosts several side quests each month, too. They’ve met for mahjong lessons, coffee, make-your-own bouquet evenings, stretching classes, book clubs and community service projects like clothing drives and Habitat for Humanity builds. Hannah began adding other activities not only as a way for Buffalo Girls Walk to support local women-owned small businesses and their surrounding communities, but also to provide built-in wing women for solo participants venturing into new territory.
“It’s a way to offer people new experiences you might not try by yourself,” she says. Someone might be ok visiting a new bookstore alone, she explains, but dressing up in silly wigs and going cosmic bowling requires a posse.
To help coordinate a growing social calendar and more than 4,000 followers, earlier this year Hannah built out the Buffalo Girls Walk leadership team to include volunteers to head specific interest groups like pickleball, dog walking and going out. They help moderate sub-group chats, answer member questions in a timely manner and handle logistics for outings—all with the goal of making Buffalo Girls Walk a welcoming, positive experience Hannah hopes will attract even more participants.
“We really want you to take that step and just show up,” she says.
For a schedule of walks and events, follow along on Instagram.
