Visit Macon acquires local tour company that helps preserve Macon’s music history
When Jessica Walden and Jamie Weatherford founded Rock Candy Tours to showcase Macon’s musical history, they eventually feared the popularity of the business would be too much to keep up with.
But Visit Macon announced Wednesday that it has acquired Rock Candy Tours to keep its services growing and boost Visit Macon’s existing tourism offers.
Rock Candy Tours is a locally owned and operated tour company focused on Macon’s music history. The purchase will allow Visit Macon to expand its tour offerings through an already trusted and established business, said Visit Macon CEO Gary Wheat.
“To be able to have our tours here at Visit Macon fall under the Rock Candy brand, that iconic Macon brand, is such a celebration for us,” Wheat said.
How Rock Candy Tours was founded
Walden and Weatherford founded Rock Candy Tours in 2011. Walden worked as a music journalist and had relatives in the former Georgia Music Hall of Fame, while Weatherford’s family operated the Crown Candy Corporation, which is based in Macon.
Weatherford and Walden started the tours after the Georgia Music Hall of Fame closed as a way to honor Macon’s musical legacy. The day after the closure, they met in Washington Park with about 40 other people and held their first walking tour.
“We started this … as a love letter to the community,” Walden said. “Our simple mission was that Macon’s music history does not have to live within a museum’s walls.”
The tours proved wildly popular, and soon Rock Candy Tours expanded its offerings to include ghost tours and tours focusing on Macon’s nightlife and commercial district.
However, as interest kept expanding, Weatherford and Walden worried about their ability to keep up with the company. With Macon growing and the Ocmulgee Mounds possibly becoming a National Park, Weatherford said he wasn’t sure he and Walden could keep up with the demand.
When Visit Macon stepped in and offered to purchase the company, Walden and Weatherford were grateful for the opportunity for their business carry on.
“History only lasts as long as the people who love it, support it,” Weatherford said.