Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, between 9:30 and 10 a.m., people from all walks of life and many countries gather in groups eager to learn more about San Miguel de Allende in the Jardin, in front of the Parroquia.

Almost immediately, they are greeted by a volunteer from Patronato Pro Niños and are made to feel comfortable and welcome and are then connected with a licensed Mexican guide for a stroll through the historic Centro and an introduction to the city’s remarkable history.

The Historic Walking Tours have their own unique history of evolution, one worth knowing.

They began in 1991, 17 years before San Miguel de Allende officially noted the city’s history and declared it a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The tours  were started, according to a 1999 Atencion newspaper article, by Bert Fayne, Patronato Pro Niños’ treasurer at the time, and Billie Bremer, a board member, as a way to raise money for the organization’s mission: to provide medical, dental, nutritional and psychological care to Mexican children whose families couldn’t afford it on their own.

They recruited the late Bob Summerclot, a noted historian and writer, to craft a script for volunteer tour guides to follow. Their first tour was on a Friday in 1991. Three people showed up. Eight pesos were collected.

City police quickly stepped in and said the tours needed a permit to continue. The organization appealed to the Mayor, who supported the group’s mission, but added that the history of the city belonged to the Mexicans who created it and needed to be more accurate in addition to being fully documented.

Persuaded that these requirements had been met, the tours were allowed to continue. Word quickly spread and the tours expanded to two days a week, then three. Once the historical material for new scripts had been documented, additional tours were offered. One was focused on the architecture of the Centro, one focused on four historic churches, and private tours joined the mix. There was even a Christmas Day tour, that focused on Mexican traditions of the holiday.

Along the way, the financial support for Patronato Pro Niños also grew significantly.

Betse Davis, who had been a longtime volunteer guide, was asked to take over the tour’s leadership in 2001, a role she filled for 16 years. She says the role, which fell to her a year or so after her husband had died, “was the making of me. I worked with so many wonderful people, all volunteering to support Patronato Pro Niños.”

Of her longtime contribution to the growth of Patronato Pro Niños, she said: “We owe a debt to the wonderful town that’s taken us in.” Providing care to kids who otherwise might not receive it is one way of repaying the debt.

She credits the late Paul Temple, another longtime volunteer, with being her guide as she was overseeing the tours. “When anything came up that I wasn’t sure about, I just asked myself ‘What would Paul do?’”

Peggy Jones, who moved to San Miguel with her husband in 2013, became a volunteer guide and took over tour leadership in 2017 when Betse stepped aside. The next year, Peggy said, 6,642 people took tours. At its peak in 2019, there were 30 volunteer guides, 13 volunteer greeters and four support staff. The tours by that point were contributing nearly a third of Patronato Pro Niños’ annual budget.

The tours had become so popular - sometimes more than 100 people showed up. The volunteer guides were being overwhelmed as they had to collect and bank the donations as well as lead the tours. Into the breech stepped the late Rex Waggoner.

“I first met Rex and his partner, Robert Burgess, in the summer of 2017 when they were visiting San Miguel and hanging out in the Jardin while we were gathering for the Walking Tours” Peggy recalled. “Rex was the person who came up with the idea of having “Greeters," a new type of volunteer who would greet folks as they arrived, provide information about Patronato Pro Niños, collect the donations, and coordinate the groups going out with the guides.They also were responsible for depositing the donations directly at the bank once the tours started, establishing a much safer system than previously. 

“It was all Rex's creative, problem-solving skills and the important role of Greeter grew to over 20 volunteers who were essential in the smooth, organized, and secure system of sending out the Walking Tours three or four times a week,” Peggy added .

Rex served as Greeter at least once per week when he and Robert were in town over the next 6 years.They both were also active volunteers at the So Others May Eat (SOME) organization, the local meal program for the elderly.

“Oftentimes, the two of them would start their day in the Jardin at 9:00 a.m. greeting for the Walking Tours, then go directly to the Parroquia courtyard to set up and serve the meals at SOME, staying until all the clean up was done in the afternoon,” Peggy recalled. “I will always remember his joyful smile as he greeted the Ancianos weekly.”

Alix Nicoll, a volunteer guide and greeter, took over from Peggy just before Covid hit. Tourism dropped to nearly nothing. Like other local non-profits (and businesses), Patronato Pro Niños took a major financial hit, but  knowing the pandemic would eventually end, Patronato Pro Niños’ board decided to keep its staff on the payroll so it could quickly get back to their mission when the time came.

As tourism slowly recovered, the city government, aware of how hard the pandemic had been on Mexican guides decided to enforce its rule that only Mexican certified guides would give tours. Dali Amaro became chief guide and scheduler, with volunteer greeters continuing to help organize participants, share information about Patronato Pro Niños and collect and bank the donations. (If you would like to become a volunteer greeter, please contact Frieda Wiebe frieda.wiebe@gmail.com or Alix Nicoll alixjnicoll@gmail.com )

The 33-year history of the Historic Walking Tours is a reflection of Patronato Pro Niños’ long-term vision of focusing on children, knowing healthy children grow to build healthy communities. It is an effort which, as Betse Davies puts it, is one way to repay the wonderful community of which we have happily adopted.

Now that things have returned mostly to normal, Patronato Pro Niños is back at full speed, providing medical, dental, nutritional and psychological care to thousands of children and teens in the area. Your support and donations remain critical to the mission which, as our name says, is “for the children.”

Thank you.