CINCINNATI – With a strangely quiet and empty stadium behind him, the consultant tried to help others believe what they would have noticed there more than 160 years earlier.
His audience of eight other people, all on foot, looked over the mask on the maps as he described tons of grocery stores, salons, blacksmiths and 100,000 other people living in two square miles, one of the most congested spaces in the United States before the Civil War. War. The domain then had a courtesy secret: it was filled with stations on the Underground Railway for slaves seeking freedom. Today, they were walking those paths.
For many Americans, this is the time to be locked up, not to be able to interact with their fellow Americans and, in many cases, to the landscape itself. The COVID-19 and its effect on more than 200,000 dead Americans have kept many away from overcrowded air travel, cruise ships and beaches.
Enter a resolutely unplugged alternative, a very concrete antidote to a more virtual life: walking. It may not be the ultimate exciting promotion point, but much greater than being surrounded by the same 4 walls.
“Our intellectual fitness issues too, and it’s very vital for usArray. . . when we feel away and trapped at home, walking our streets as safely as possible,” said Rebecca Manski of Social Justice Visits in New York.
These tours have gained popularity among others seeking social activities outdoors, maintaining protective precautions, and staying in small groups – the Cincinnati Walking Tour, for example, one of many proposed in recent months through the Hall. of Fame for the Cincinnati Reds
Normally, said Bob Doherty, 61, his circle of relatives would have been inside the stadium this Sunday afternoon, supporting the Reds in their playoff game opposed to the Chicago White Sox. history, “is the most productive thing to do,” he said. Others agreed.
“It’s refreshing to pass out and be with your family,” said Mack Doherty, 28. They were part of an organization of five, their father, their sister and their boyfriend. His girlfriend, Avery Helwig, 28, agreed, “It’s great to spend outside. “
Manski’s group in New York, like many travel agencies, interrupted face-to-face visits when the pandemic began in March, claiming the jarring sound of ambulance sirens as new COVID-19 sufferers were transferred. the hospitals joined the barriers. to education-based visits. He temporarily switched to virtual offerings, and other teams featured small personal team tours or self-guided tours with provided audio and GPS data.
“It’s an attractive time to be in the industry,” said Riley Pearce of Backroads Tours, founded in Berkeley, California. “No one knows what other people are going to need, because other people don’t really know what they need yet. “
Pandemic considerations reduce secondary hiking, hiking and cycling routes by 90% this year by 90%, rebuilding their businesses with a circle of family members and personal expeditions with a variety of approaches.
The Reds Hall of Fame Museum, in the city that pioneered professional baseball in 1869, also made walking tours of the 1919 Black Sox World Series scandal and the former Riverfront Stadium that housed the teams of the 1970s. For the fall, “Brunch, Brews and Baseball” is presented which includes an excursion to the brewery.
But CHIEF Rick Walls said the nonprofit museum had not been for popular guided tours or gathering tours and purchases of products through enthusiasts attending games at the adjacent stadium.
“It was a great success,” Walls said.
The museum replaced face-to-face autograph sessions and discussions for its 5,000-member base with Zoom calls with former Red stars, whom Walls said had “really intensified” to point out loose or discounted pieces for sale at the museum. companies that depend on visitors, the museum expects a general 2021, but sets contingency plans in case the pandemic continues.
“We’ll get better out of this situation,” Walls said. ” We’ll have created new tactics to run internally, and ultimately we’ll have a successful season.
Pearce said his company believes there is a strong repressed call to scale in places like Grand Teton National Park because they remind other people that while “modern life is completely submerged through COVID,” there are still impressive sites, several thousand years old. . , who have not been affected by the pandemic.
Therefore, walking tours are done on small teams at this time, possibly becomes very vital when the global returns.
“I think it’s the same thing that a lot of other people need right now,” Pearce said. “When everything else feels completely backwards, get out into the wild and hike, sleep under the stars – all of this reminds us that there is only this global to explore AND it’s happening to be waiting for us as soon as we’re ready.
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