Walking Tours highlighting Lacombe’s history all summer

Lacombe’s Historic Downtown Walking Tours are starting back up this weekend.

On Saturday (May 18), residents and visitors are invited to join the Lacombe Museum for a historic walking tour and learn about the history of downtown for the summer.

Samantha Lee, Interim Executive Director at the Lacombe Museum explained that there are multiple tours guests can choose from, including a tour focusing on the history of downtown buildings with elements of true crime and scandalous stories.

“It’s more narrative-based than just looking at the buildings and telling their history,” Lee said.

Other tour options include a mural tour and a new Hidden Histories tour.

“People can definitely ask more questions when they are on a tour if they want more information about anything,” Lee said.

Throughout the years, the tours have increased in popularity, always bringing in crowds.

“They are one of our more popular summer offerings, often we get people returning until they've seen all of the tours,” Lee said.

She added that although historic walking tours aren’t unique, it’s a fun way to share the rich history of Lacombe.

"In Lacombe, people can see that there’s heritage here, but not necessarily know anything about it,” Lee said. “It's fun to be able to go out and tell the stories and the history exactly where it's relevant.”

Lee’s favourite tour to lead is the mural tour because it’s a fun mix of art, but also experiencing history.

“The first batch of murals show the buildings in a way that they don't look anymore. They're showing an even older version, but at a scale that's real," she said.

Lee is hopeful that the tours showcase the diverse history of Lacombe.

“People sometimes have a misconception about the settlement era,” she said. “Even though we're an agricultural community, that's not what people came here to do originally.”

The tours are offered as a drop-in program every Saturday at 4 p.m., at the Michener House Museum.