City Guides 40th anniversary Megatour

Megatour Proposed Map.jpg
 
 

Overview

The 40th anniversary Megatour is a tour of tours, cutting a route across the city on a walking expedition that will start at 9 am and finish around 5 pm.  If successful, this could become an annual tradition and future Megatours could follow different routes and content from tours in other parts of the City.

The event will start at the Ferry Building and head west on Market St. to Civic Center before continuing to Alamo Sq. for a lunch break.  It will then head toward the Panhandle and into Golden Gate Park.  It will conclude at the Beach Chalet Brewery & Restaurant.  Participants can use the N-Judah or other transportation options to get back.

Some key facts:

  • Proposed date:  Saturday, June 9 (this is not yet final)
  • Tour will be broken into multiple segments, each led by a different guide 
  • Multiple groups of up to 25 walkers, allowing us to scale up if we attract a large number of participants
  • Free with an RSVP requested; option to purchase a sandwich lunch to be delivered to Alamo Sq.
  • The Megatour will deliver a subset of the content from tours along the route; additional content will probably need to be developed for the Western Addition, Golden Gate Park and other areas.

Goals:

  • Include content from multiple tours along the route and serve as a teaser for participants to come back and experience full tours at another time
  • Tell a broad story of SF that includes content on its formation as well as a historical discussion from Asian American, African American, Latino, LGBTQ, feminist and other perspectives
  • Deepen the connection participants (including City Guides) have with our organization and celebrate the rich history of our city.

How Tour Coordinators can help:

  • Help us recruit guides from your tours to lead segments of the tour.  We’re happy to include guides from all City Guide tours – not just those along the route.
  • Provide content from tours along the route.  If your tour has portions on Market St., around Civic Center, in the Western Addition or Golden Gate Park, we’re grateful for material and suggestions.
  • Publicize this event both within City Guides and on our tours.  The hope is that many City Guides and other locals will want to participate (out-of-town visitors are welcome, too, but may not be our core audience)
  • Give us your input as we finalize and share more details

This event is envisioned as a combination hike and a tour.  We will aim to keep tour stops short (generally 5 mins. of content or less).  In Golden Gate Park, we will probably be hiking more and delivering content somewhat less.  The goal is to complete the entire tour in less than 8 hrs.
 

Our subcommittee is currently working on key logistics questions such as locations of bathrooms, food and drink as well as organizing the large group of guides.  We will share these details and ensure this is a well-run event that reflects well upon SF City Guides.
 

The Megatour is obviously not for everyone.  It requires good physical fitness and is aimed at people who are particularly passionate about the history of our city and the tours we lead.  But we think it will attract people who like the challenge of walking across the City and indulging in an event that celebrates our vast array of San Francisco tours.  We’re interested in hearing your perspective as we flesh out details of the event.