All good things must come to an end.
It’s been an incredible few months for my walking tours experiment but it’s almost time to close it out.
When I first wrote publicly on this blog about pursuing this passion project and launching my walking tours, it was a leap of faith and I truly did not know how it would go. I set a start date of June 17th and was thrilled when nearly a dozen guests showed up that Saturday morning—even if about half were related to me in some way. With the support of my family, the first Then & Now Downtown Albuquerque Walking Tour was a grand success.
The second week was also successful. Then the third week came around and… nobody showed up.
Not to be deterred by one slow weekend, I kept it up for a fourth Saturday and more guests showed up. Word started spreading through social media mostly and the momentum built up enough that I eventually expanded to include a Sunday tour. The Rails & Tales Albuquerque Rail Yards Tour has been a popular 30-minute tour for shoppers at the Rail Yards Market to get to know the rich history behind the iconic glass and steel structures in the Barelas neighborhood.
It’s all been incredibly rewarding.
Over the course of nearly three months, nearly a hundred guests have joined my free tour experiences. Some have completed both a Saturday and a Sunday tour which I take as a major compliment since these super guests enjoyed their initial experience enough to come back for more.
So why am I choosing to end tours that have been such a success?
Both the Downtown Growers’ Market and Rail Yards Market have been incredibly kind partners supportive of this whole walking tours idea. I doubt I would have had anywhere near the level of success so far without these organizations. It’s really only because these markets are already doing the heavy lifting of bringing life to our downtown parks and historic sites that I can continue to provide my walking tours on a weekly basis.
That’s why I’ll be choosing to stop the walking tours when these markets close for the 2023 season.
This isn’t the end for me. It’s simply an opportunity to pause and regroup through the winter season to figure out how to come back even better than before. I fully expect to restart walking tours in 2024 but I still haven’t quite finalized how it will look next year.
As of now, I plan to finish strong through the end of each market season. For my Rails & Tales Tour, that means ending when the Rail Yards Market wraps up with a final market day on Sunday, October 29th. The Downtown Growers’ Market doesn’t until until the following week so the last Then & Now Tour will be Saturday, November 4th.
A special note: There will be no Rails & Tales Tour on Sunday, October 1st as I will be out of town that day.
That means there are a limited number of opportunities for you to join a tour! If you’ve been waiting for cooler weather, now’s your time.
Remember:
- Final Rails & Tales Tour: Sunday, October 29th
- Final Then & Now Tour: Saturday, November 4th
To those of you who have already joined a tour, THANK YOU for your support. I hope to see the rest of your faces soon!
Hasta pronto!
Eric
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