Ok, maybe fantastic year isn’t the adjective you would expect to describe 2021, but in my case, it is quite true.
Thanks to your incredible support from July – December Stroll hosted 60 walks for 320 guests! Your voracious curiosity and ongoing search for outdoor activities kept us going. That’s a LOT of kilometres, friendly faces, laughter, questions and hyperlocal exploring in six short months.
Stroll reopened in late June 2021 after months of stay-at-home public health measures, allowing just six months of operations. But, W O W, did we make the most of these six months!
Here’s my Top Ten list of awesome Stroll adventures in 2021 (in no particular order)
- Launched Historic St. Jacobs in October in partnership with the Village of St. Jacobs BIA
- Partnered with the Downtown Kitchener BIA to give away $2500 in Downtown Dollars(!!) to 100 lucky people
- Supported Healing of the Seven Generations and Toasty Toes Waterloo Region with donations from the profits of specific walks in September & October
- Found the most E P I C wasp nest on the Casper Braun monument in the Mount Hope Cemetery
- Implemented CanaTrace for screening & contact tracing – developed by Toronto entrepreneur for use by Canadian businesses, for FREE! Thank you Asif!
- Hosted the most amazing young kids on the Murals & the Outdoor Gallery walking tour – who are SUPER interested in art
- Took some walking tours of my own to explore murals in Montreal with Space & Palacio, Black History in Toronto with Jacquline Scott, Black History in Buxton, Ontario, Black History of the Queen’s Bush (Wellesley & Peel Townships), a Graffiti Tour in Toronto and more public art in Elmira!
- Hosted a Mural Walking Tour giveaway with Ultimate Ontario
- Garnered some media & promotion from Ultimate Ontario, Room to Roam by local Ian Shantz, blog posts from Travels with TMC, social media from Lincoln Ho, and Ultimate Ontario, a second time!
- Launched Kitchener Got the Blues our second new walk of 2021!
- Partnered with THEMUSEUM & THW Social to offer some sweet goodies for guests on the music history walk with Glenn
- Finished researching and testing a brand new walking tour to launch in February 2022 – weather depending!
That’s more than 10 good things..
But, you get the idea; even tough times have great moments and there are many more where these came from.
Thanks again for a fantastic year and I’m already looking forward to 2022 – fingers crossed!
