Last night at Teatro on Seventh in Ybor City, City Councilwoman Linda Saul-Sena and and social media strategist Julia Gorzka hosted a launch party announcing their new historical walking tour of Ybor City called Secret City Walks.
Tampa's poet laureate James Tokley emceed the event. Tokley is the narrator on the the recording of the tour, which can be purchased online as an MP3 download..
Originally, Saul-Sena and pal Marilyn Mars wrote a walking tour of Ybor because of their shared love of the historic district a decade ago.
Saul-Sena said she got the idea while traveling with her husband on a walking tour in Halifax, Canada. But she said after hearing the stories of that area, that, frankly, Ybor's stories were a lot more interesting.
Julia Gorzka said she'd heard from Saul-Sena and Mars about their script, and realized it was simply gathering dust. So right around a year ago, she then thought it'd be a good idea to revive it, what with an influx of tourists coming to town for the Super Bowl.
Gorkza says, "I had this desire to get the word out about our local awesomeness, and it drives me crazy, there are so many interesting things here that are not part of the collective consciousness here. So I said to Linda,' we gotta turn this thing into an audio tour'".
Gorzka said they were able to whip out a production in about 3 weeks. But then the project sat and sat. Until now.
Among those present at last night's event included Elio Lopez, who is the voice of Don Vicente Martinez Ybor, Tampa's first baron of industry on the audio tour. Bonnie Agan, who is the voice of Adela Gonzmart, past owner of the Columbia Restaurant, was also on hand.
