Guided walking tours that drew hundreds to downtown Sarnia in recent pre-COVID-19 pandemic years have gone virtual.
A 30-stop interactive guide was recently added to sarnia.ca via the city’s heritage committee.
The addition, along with a digital version of a 17-stop, 21-kilometre trees of distinction bike tour, a searchable database of parks, trails and municipal facilities, and an online events calendar that includes an option to subscribe for alerts, are part of a recent Explore Sarnia initiative, customer service manager Andrea Lane said.
“Each one allows people to conveniently explore the different assets of the municipality from home or in person,” she said.
Brochures with details of the five-kilometre walking tour are also available at city hall, she said.
“We’ve actually had people contact us who are former residents of Sarnia and they’ve wondered if they could kind of see what’s going on, and what’s available for the history of Sarnia,” she said.
There’s constant interest in city history, she said.
“The initiative for the calendar is great because people can subscribe and they can be notified of new events,” she said.
The walking and cycling tours are always available, she said, adding she’s unsure if guided tours will return this summer.
At least 45 trees were trees of distinction under the city’s Arbor Week Committee designation program as recently as 2017.
A bike tour map dates back to around 2010.
The committee considers tree nominations based on things like age, size and species, said parks, forestry and horticulture manager Patti Ross.
“For example, the bur oak that’s on there, it’s massive and it’s a couple of hundred years old,” she said.
All trees with the distinction also have a plaque, she said.
“A lot of people go out to see the giant sequoias and stuff,” she said. “We have our own little cool list of trees here as well.”
The events calendar is available at calendar.sarnia.cathe database of parks and facilities at city.sarnia.cathe heritage walking tour is at sarnia.ca/doing-business/cultural-heritageand the trees of distinction tour is at sarnia.ca/play/urban-forests.