LYNN — Michelle Guzman has officially started the 2023 season of her Lynn Walking Shoe Tours.
The tours are focused on the city’s history and heritage, she said.
During the tours, she shows attendees murals that were painted by the nonprofit Beyond Walls, vintage neon signs that were also installed by Beyond Walls, sculptures and other artwork around the city, and important landmarks. She also said she talks about the city’s shoemaking history.
The tours began in 2018, and Guzman said she started them for two reasons. One was because of the story of Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the Christian Science Church who lived in Lynn for a number of years.
“When I found out about her, I was like, ‘How come nobody’s talking about this woman or these people, these pioneers?’” Guzman said.
She said she teaches attendees about historical figures connected to the city including Baker Eddy, Frederick Douglass, and Lydia Pinkham, an inventor from the 1800s.
The second reason she started hosting the tours was to give kids like her son a sense of pride in the city, instead of associating it with the rhyme “Lynn, Lynn, the city of sin.”
While her tours are mostly about history, she said they also touch upon the diversity of Lynn and social changes currently happening in the city.
Many of the attendees are not from Lynn, but Guzman said she is also trying to encourage locals to join.
“When they have this experience, they either go back in memory lane… or they discover new things that they didn’t know,” she said.
Besides residents, she also likes to work with local organizations. She said she has worked with Girls Inc. and KIPP Academy in the past.
“Small organizations, especially with the youth because, again, I want them to feel proud of the city of Lynn,” Guzman said.
This year, she said she is trying to utilize the reinstated Lynn-to-Boston ferry to bring Lynners into Boston. Guzman said exploring Boston will be new for some, whether because of language barriers or a lack of transportation.
Those tours, she said, will be geared toward mothers because it is summer vacation. As of right now, she said she is still getting all of the logistics for the Boston tours geared away before launching them.
Guzman’s Lynn tours are on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays in the summer. Fridays and Saturdays are for English speakers and Sundays are for Spanish speakers, she said.
Those wishing to sign up for a tour can do so on Eventbrite at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/lynn-at-night-2023-tickets-674950614457.
