HOLYOKE – Doors Open Holyoke is offering an inside look at some of the city’s most historic and treasured landmarks, buildings and businesses.

The event will take place on Oct. 16 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. There will be a morning tour from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and an afternoon tour from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

 According to Aaron Vega, director of planning and economic development for the city of Holyoke, this event is a part of the 2019 Holyoke Tourism Plan which works to help the city move forward on strategic tourism initiatives.

“We’ve been working with a number of stakeholders, we’re creating an advisory group on tourism for the city and this kind of event, we hope, will become a yearly event,” said Vega.

Doors Open events originated in France in 1984 and have spread around the world throughout the years. This event will allow for self-guided and guided tours around Holyoke to explore places that are not often open and free to the public.

“It’s an opportunity to sort of showcase some of the history within the city, some of the architecture, art and some of the businesses,” said Vega.

Some participants of Doors Open Holyoke include the Holyoke Children’s Museum, Holyoke Heritage State Park Visitor Center, Holyoke Community College, Holyoke Masonic Temple, MIFA Victory Theater, Hotel Jess, Gateway City Arts, Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center, H.H. Richardson Train Station, the Volleyball Hall of Fame and more.

Vega said that those interested in attending the event are encouraged to pre-register. He said that this is a COVID-19 precaution which will help keep track of the number of attendees and will assist if contact tracing is needed.

“We’re not using anyone’s registration for solicitations or newsletters or anything like that,” he said.

Indoor activities will have mask requirements, according to Vega.

This event is also working to highlight some of the local restaurants downtown. Vega said that those who attend Doors Open Holyoke will receive a bracelet to get 10 percent off their lunch.

“We are going to set up at the Visitor’s Center as a launching location. People can come, get a map, get some information. We’re also going to have a bracelet that will get you a 10 percent discount for lunch at about a dozen places downtown,” he said. “We’re pretty excited about highlighting some of the new restaurants that have come online in the last year during COVID-19, which is pretty admirable to open up anything during this last year and a half. So we’re trying to highlight our downtown businesses.”

Some participating restaurants include Khi & Eli’s Food For The Soul, Avalon Lounge and Game Cafe, Pizza D’Action, Crave and more.

Vega said that he hopes the day will be a fun event for families, an opportunity for the local community to discover new places and a way to eliminate some of Holyoke’s known reputation.

“A no-cost to low-cost family day is sometimes hard to come by, so this is very family friendly and I think that it will help discourage some of the reputation that Holyoke has and that there’s nothing worth coming down for. We have great restaurants, we’ve got some great assets, I think that this is something that will highlight that and I think that we’re constantly trying to fight against an unwarranted reputation that we have right now. We’ve gone through some tough times as a city over the last 20 years, but there’s a lot of great things happening,” said Vega. “It’s an opportunity to kind of see what’s behind those doors and that’s really the hope that we’re gonna put this together and people will have a little more pride going on in Holyoke.”

Those interested in learning more about Doors Open Holyoke or registering for the event are encouraged to visit www.doorsopenholyoke.com