Historic Commission welcomes volunteers building audio/video walking tours for Grass Valley

Volunteers presented a yearlong project to create free audio and video walking tours for Grass Valley that the Historic Commission said it would help promote and integrate with city materials.

Rose Murphy, introduced as a former educator, said the group ‘‘has been working for about a year creating these walking tours’’ and that ‘‘ours are free and for the public,’’ describing collaborations with the Nevada County Historical Society and local docents. Lisa Redfern, who handles technical production, said some tours use geofencing so audio plays automatically when visitors enter mapped zones.

Commissioners raised practical questions about distribution and access. Diane and other members said the Chamber of Commerce, the city and the historical society should serve as a central hub for links and that QR codes used for existing mural tours offered useful tracking metrics such as visitor hits and time spent on a page. Miranda, staff, confirmed QR-code tracking can show both visit counts and duration on linked pages.

The commission discussed tradeoffs between a QR-code/printed approach and an app-based model that auto-plays audio. Members urged attention to accessibility — offering readable text for older users and audio for younger or mobile audiences — and to consistent branding so tours present a ‘‘one-stop’’ experience for visitors. Staff and volunteers agreed to continue coordinating; the presenters said they will share tour links and staff will evaluate how to add the tours to city and Chamber web pages.

The presenters also described future projects, including expanded tours of the Grass Valley and Nevada City Chinatowns and longer documentary interviews with local families. The commission offered to help with promotion and to consider including selected audio stops alongside the commission’s heritage-home and mural tours.