Okay, Fans — WALK BC launches this coming weekend! Below is a copy of the press release that gives you all the info you could want to know about the tour and more! I went and visited a couple of the sites today — it was pretty cool!
Beginning Saturday, August 6, Boulder City visitors and residents can explore the city’s fascinating 85 year heritage through WALK BC, a new self-guided, cell phone-based, audio walking tour.
Designed, scripted, and installed by the staffs of the Boulder City/Hoover Dam Museum and Boulder Dam Hotel, WALK BC tells the stories of the men and women who built Hoover Dam and settled Boulder City.
WALK BC, with 11 sites spread over a one-mile loop through the historic downtown area, allows visitors and residents to tour the city at their own pace, visiting as many or as few sites as their schedules allow. Each site is marked with prominent signage that includes instructions for accessing the tour with a standard cell phone, smartphone, or tablet. Walkers will hear a three to five minute audio at each site, including excerpts from oral histories collected from Hoover Dam workers and Boulder City’s earliest citizens.
WALK BC is fully funded by the Boulder City Museum and Historical Association (BCMHA) – the owners and operators of the Boulder City/Hoover Dam Museum and the Boulder Dam Hotel – using revenues generated by museum admissions, gift shop sales, and hotel operations. The City of Boulder City assisted with determining the tour route, providing access to some of the sites, and installing site markers. Boulder City community volunteers recorded the narrations on the audio tracks.
“WALK BC serves two objectives for us,” said Roger Shoaff, General Manager of the BCMHA. “One, it helps us expand our museum into the community we serve and, two, it is our contribution to helping downtown Boulder City businesses in light of the impending Route 11 bypass. There are many reasons tourists visit Boulder City and its treasured history is one of those reasons. We want
to maximize Boulder City’s appeal to the many tourists who seek out such destinations and we want to give them cause to extend their visit a bit.”For a map of the tour and a list of tour sites, visit http://walkbc.oncell.com.
There is no charge to take the tour, but data charges from the walkers’ cell phone provider might apply, depending on their contract. In a couple months, a free app will be available through Google Play and Apple Store. This will allow people to download the app through a wireless connection and then take the audio walking tour without utilizing any of the data allocation on their device.
