Virtual holiday walking tours coming to Streetsville in Mississauga

 

Mississauga is coming up with creative ways to help out small businesses during a pandemic.

According to a release, Imagine AR, an Augmented Reality Company that allows sports teams, brands, and businesses to instantly create their own mobile phone AR campaigns is announcing their first Digital Main Street Community Collaboration Project.

This project will be on display this holiday season in the Streetsville Business Improvement (BIA) neighbourhood in Mississauga.

Ready Set Go Design, a digital product design company, has been selected as the tech partner for this project using the AR platform.

The release also states that the company’s technology will create an augmented reality walking tour of Streetsville Main Street, showcasing the area’s well-known charm that holds more than 300 small businesses in a variety of heritage and modern looking buildings.

Due to COVID-19, several walking tours were cancelled and this Community Collaboration Project hopes to help Streetsville BIA offer self-guided, interactive tours for anyone with a smartphone.

Ready Set Go will create an interactive and engaging experience that combine educational stops at key heritage locations with fun and promotional activations from local businesses.

The walking tours will be live starting December 8 and there will be surprise visits from Santa for those who participate in the tour before December 24.

“On behalf of the local business community, we are delighted to bring a Virtual Santa to downtown Streetsville as part of the new ImagineAR heritage walking tours so families can safely get photos with Santa as part of their holiday celebrations,” said Amber Pajtasz, general manager of the Streetsville BIA, in a statement.

“We encourage residents and visitors to walk through and learn about our village during winter 2020/2021 when COVID-19 restrictions prevent us from hosting in-person events and walking tours.”

The ImagineAR mobile app is now available for download in the App Store and on Google Play.

Signage will be posted at various locations along Queen Street South in Streetsville to let people know how to activate and join the tours.

The interactive walking tours will be updated regularly with new business promotions and fun activities to encourage people to come back and enjoy the outdoors and main street business in a COVID-safe way.