History Tours and Talks Provide Hands-On Education to Residents and Visitors of Fort Collins

Traces of the Past History Tours works to provide guided history tours in addition to formal historical presentations in the outdoors to help customers paint a picture of a past era in Fort Collins and the surrounding region.

The tours were founded in May 2018 by long-time Fort Collins resident Mark Serour. Mark understood that starting this type of business would be difficult, yet he never expected what obstacles he would face this year.

“Nothing worth having is easy, as the cliché goes, but I believe that what we offer is a unique service, something the community and surrounding region doesn’t have,” said Mark. “The uniqueness is that the tours and talks not only focus on contemporary accounts but are conducted by a professional historian wearing reproduction historical clothing and augmented by the display of original historical objects from the company collection,” Mark said.

Since March, Mark and his wife, Wendy Serour, have dealt with navigating health restrictions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic to reimagine the business and its services. The tours-only schedule has been revised to offer ‘maximum occupancy due to social distancing requirements.

Riverside Lantern Talks span an hour. They were launched in June and continued through August. Special summer presentations (featuring local and regional subjects that are not often addressed on the tours) received great feedback and are now a permanent addition that the company offers.

There will be special presentations held during the “off-season” and van tours throughout the year. Traces of the Past History Tours continues to comply with current state mandates regarding COVID-19 safety measures from van capacity limits to maintaining proper social distancing.

For more information regarding Traces of the Past History Tours, including tour and program bookings, visit tracesofthepasthistorytours.com.