History is reviving in a new modern format.
Last week Tourism Estevan and the Souris Valley Museum announced the Historical Walking Tour's launch. The activity is a redesign and replacement of the original Historical Walking Tour of Estevan that was released in the 1980s.
"This tour gives visitors a chance to explore the streets of Estevan and learn about the rich history and interesting stories that lie in the buildings that were instrumental in creating Estevan as it is today," said Rebecca Westling, destination marketing and communications consultant for the City of Estevan.
The city wanted to resurrect the tour for a while. Last fall, they launched the Backroads of Estevan audio tour, which helped them to gauge the interest in the history of the area. The audio tour turned out to be a success, and the city decided to go ahead and develop a new product, looking at more specific aspects of the local history.
The tour's core route and stories mirror the original tour but with added bonuses of trivia, photos, audio playback and directions. The tour focuses on the stories of people who lived in the homes rather than the architecture itself. Not to worry, though; architecture still plays a key role but has stories intertwined.
"It's always been a great story to tell. But now with the way technology is, we just thought that it would be a great opportunity to tell it in a new light with the new technology," Westling said.
There are many highlights in the tour, depending on what participants are into. The tour is comprised of information about architecture, history, live stories, interesting facts about the community, its members, local businesses and more. Westling said the revamped tour turned out to be more engaging for the audience.
The Souris Valley Museum played an important role in retrieving and checking some historical content. The city used the original tour as a starting point, but they also consulted with the museum on where some of the stops should be and on some of the stories to be told.
"We have some of the old research here that the museum donated in the past. We actually had some old research notes from the original tour, so we were able to utilize some of that material, depending on the property on the tour to ensure that what was written in the script was what was in research notes from the past," said museum executive director Mark Veneziano.
He added that they were "thrilled to partner with Tourism Estevan on this one-hour audio-guided tour, where participants can explore the historic downtown core and listen to fascinating commentary about the city's architecture, vibrant culture and storied past."
"We think it is extremely important that a project like this be available for our community, especially considering it was so popular in the past," Veneziano said.
The museum also had such a tour in mind for a while but didn't have the capacity to bring it back. They were eager to support the city on this initiative that came just in time, when nicer weather sees people get outside more, looking for something to do.
Westling said the museum was instrumental in bringing the tour to life.
"I just want to thank the Souris Valley Museum for the collaboration, the help with fine-tuning the details, and confirming lots of the facts in it. They were integral in getting this tour on the go," Westling said.
Westling and Veneziano already knew a lot about the city, but nevertheless, both had some discoveries to make working on the tour.
"I actually used to live in the area when I was a teenager growing up, so it was really interesting to see the homes that I used to walk by every day after school. Some of them even were homes of my friends that I used to play in. It was quite interesting to know who once used to live there, their stories, and to actually gain a little perspective that way," Westling shared.
Veneziano was curious to learn about Estevan's synagogue and its members, but wouldn't share too much about his discoveries.
"It's all in the tour, so I encourage everyone to take advantage of learning about the community's past by participating in this fantastic tour. I think it's a great way for people to get out, get active, walk around the community and learn," Veneziano said.
The tour can be interesting for people who were born and raised in Estevan, came here recently or are just passing through the community and looking to learn something about the history of the Energy City.
"For people that are coming through the city, there are stories that are tied to bigger stories. For example, the stories about the Estevan Brick Plant and the first person that ran that plant. On the political side of things, there are stories about who the first mayors were and even who the first person was that owned a vehicle in Estevan and where they lived and how their story was," said Westling.
Any community needs to know its roots, and the new revamped tour will help to spread the word about what stands behind Estevan the way it is today.
"I think knowing the history puts things into perspective, like what growth we've had here, who the people are. Stories of people from Saskatchewan are the epitome of what makes Saskatchewan what it is. And those stories really will shine through," Westling said.
The Historical Walking Tour is free. Users can participate by downloading the Tripvia app, or follow along on the city’s website at www.estevan.ca, under visitors and tours.
