Heritage Toronto walking tours cover a lot of bases - everything from the
history of Chinatown to the
mansions of Jarvis Street, to the
workers' history of Spadina.
There's a lot to choose from. That's why, after two decades of offering walking tours, Hertiage Toronto has added a new kind of tour--it's the tour to choose if you don't know what to choose.
The new tour,
Creating Toronto: Getting to Know Toronto's Heritage in Ten Stops, offers "a big picture overview" of Toronto's history. Almost like a "best of" heritage walk, Creating Toronto covers everything from the footprints in the clay under Toronto Bay (estimated to be 10,000 years old) to the rise of the city's Financial District.
"A lot of our tours are very focused," says Stacey Rodas, director of marketing with Heritage Toronto. "We thought it'd be nice to give a big picture broad history...we haven't really had a tour before that does that. It's really great for tourists who might not know about Toronto, but also for resdients who might just want that overview.
"Of course," Rodas adds, "it's impossible to cover everything, and the tour does stay in the Old Toronto and Ward areas."
But while the subject matter of "Creating Toronto" is broad, the tour itself, says Rodas, will be one of Heritage Toronto's most intimate. One of Heritage Toronto's "boutique" tours, attendance for each Creating Toronto tour will be capped at 20 with a fee of $20 per person. At exactly an hour-and-half, the tour will also be one of Heritage Toronto's shortest.
"Some of our free walking tours can have a 100 or 150 people so we kind of have to herd people along the street and sometimes depending on how close you are to the speaker you might have to strain a little bit to hear," says Rodas. "We felt for this tour that that a more intimate experience was needed.
"It's short and compact and really gives an overview of Toronto's key moments."
Writer: Katia Snukal
Source: Stacey Rodas, Director of Marketing, Heritage Toronto