Jennifer Ferguson opened Wonder Tours in 2017 with a dream of sharing Longmont’s hidden gems with the community. Due to safety concerns during the pandemic, the business halted but is now ready to start again, with a fresh vision.
Ferguson, the owner of Wonder Tours, Bricks Retail and Beth’s Bath Shoppe, has always enjoyed finding new local places to explore.
While standing in line for over an hour at a local restaurant, Ferguson asked herself, “Why?”. Why was she waiting at an overcrowded establishment when down the road were several other options, with great food and no wait? And why were other people not exploring those options either?
The answer, for most, was simple. They didn’t know these other local restaurants existed.
This seemed like a simple problem to solve and Wonder Tours was born.
“I just wanted to create a way to take more people into local restaurants,” she said.
Wonder Tours is a guided tour of local restaurants designed to get people out of their ruts. Ferguson designs each tour to include two to three stops. At each restaurant, participants can sample the menu and drink options while also meeting the business owner and learning some of the history of the place — all included in the price of the tour.
In the two years the tours have not run, inflation has hit, causing prices to escalate. Ferguson said she has always tried to keep prices low but has no choice but to raise them to cover all the costs.
But the price is not the only thing that has changed for the tour business. Ferguson will also offer walking and destination tours in addition to bus tours.
In recent months, Longmont has turned its eye toward boosting its tourism by hiring a new executive director for Visit Longmont and by agreeing to build a boutique hotel downtown.
These things are exciting for Ferguson who anticipates offering local tours to out-of-town guests.
“I hope to be known as the tour company to come to for fun in Longmont,” Ferguson said.
