LEWISTON – The American Heart Association’s Central Maine Heart Walk will begin at 9 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 26, at Montello School. Registration begins at 8 a.m.

Hundreds of heart disease and stroke survivors, with their friends and families, are expected to participate in the family-oriented event. Food and entertainment will be offered before the event, in which participants can choose to walk one, two or four miles.

According to 2004 Heart Walk Chairman Steven Closson, president and chief executive officer of Androscoggin Bank, last year’s Heart Walk raised more than $75,000 to fund the American Heart Association’s life-saving research, youth, advocacy and community education programs. This year’s goal is set at $85,000.

A special feature of this year’s walk will be the “Heart Walk Mayors’ Challenge: Two Cities United for a Common Cause.” Lewiston Mayor Lionel C. Guay and Auburn Mayor Normand W. Guay issued the participation challenge in June. A tree will be planted in the winning city in honor of the mayors’ mother, Anna, who died of heart disease.

The Heart Walk is sponsored by the Central Maine Heart and Vascular Institute, Sisters of Charities Health Systems, Androscoggin Bank, the Hartford Agency, White Rock Distilleries and Hannaford supermarkets.