While residents of and visitors to Kansas City will use the much anticipated streetcar to get around town, one first-time business owner plans to use it for something else entirely.
"You get down to connect with the city much more when you are off of a bus," said Emily Allen, who lives and works in the River Market area.
Allen is in the midst of starting Kansas City Walking Tours, a tourism business that offers bipedal historical exploration around Kansas City's core.
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One of the treks she'll offer combines exploring the neighbors between Union Station and the River Market by foot with the help of hopping on and off the streetcar.
"Walking tours get you right down to the building, it gets you inside the building, we can walk into planters and hear the history of this 90-year-old business," said Allen.
The Downtown Council of Kansas City says in the two years since voters approved the streetcar, it's brought $1 billion of development - via renovation, new businesses and jobs - to the area.
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"We are going to be able to move visitors, residents, workers up and down the streetcar line interacting with businesses, art galleries, restaurants and with various destinations along the way," said Mike Hurd with the DCKC.
Or if you're Allen, it'll combine all of those elements into one activity, with the streetcar being not only the transportation but also the destination.
Kansas City Walking Tours officially opens for business April 2.
Beautiful night at the @TheCityMarketKC pic.twitter.com/Q9TnFMZSiN
— KC Walking Tours (@kcwalkingtours) February 2, 2016
Tours:
- River Market Tour :: 1.2 miles :: 1 hour :: Meander through the River Market neighborhood and hear the stories of the city’s beginnings, its middle and its present day.
- Streetcar Tour :: 4.4 miles walking and riding together :: 2.5 hours :: Catch the KC Streetcar in the River Market for a hop on/hop off trip to Union Station and back.
- River Tour | :: 2 miles :: 1 1/2 hours
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Terra Hall can be reached at terra.hall@kshb.com.
You can also follow her on Twitter.
