The Greater Lansing Convention and Visitor Bureau held its 20th annual “Be A Tourist in Your Own Town,” which included more than 70 attractions and several special tours of Lansing sites, including the Capitol Building, Potter Park Zoo and The Michigan Historical Museum.
The event began in 1994 as a way to celebrate National Travel and Tourism Week and to give citizens the chance to see fun things to do in the area.
Event attendees purchase a $1 passport, taking their passport to each attraction they visit to have it stamped.
After having their passport stamped at each location, attendees can mail in their passport for a chance to receive prizes.
The event coincides with CATA each year by providing transportation to many of the attractions.
This year, attractions were spread out across Lansing and East Lansing, with some even located on MSU’s campus.
Among the attractions was the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, which allowed visitors to explore the museum and listen to musician Brian Vander Ark outside.
Jake Pechtel, director of public relations at the museum, said it holds a family day every first Saturday of the month, which allowed the two events to coincide.
Pechtel also said the museum offered hands-on activities to help visitors participate and welcome people into the museum.
“It just helps us open up to maybe a crowd that necessarily doesn’t think about coming to the museum on a day-to-day basis,” Pechtel said. “It helps them come in the door and see what we’re all about and hopefully they come back.”
East Lansing resident Neil Vitale said this was his first time participating in the event and he thought it was a good way to spend his afternoon.
“Every 20-year-old’s saying ‘this is boring, there is nothing to do’ and this shows them they can do something,” Vitale said.
MSU’s Dairy Store has been a staple of the event for a number of years, drawing in area residents with MSU’s iconic dairy products.
The Dairy Store set out cheese samples for visitors in addition to coupons to purchase different cheeses.
Dairy Store employee and marketing sophomore Chad McFee said the event would show visitors what the Dairy Store has to offer aside from ice cream.
“Not a lot of people are aware of the cheeses we offer, we actually offer 13 different cheeses and it’s just generally to get our cheese out there,” McFee said.
