Over a dozen people from Paris, Scarborough, Etobicoke, Waterloo, Burlington, Dresden, and even Los Angeles, California, participated in the 21st and final Big Dig walking tour through downtown Paris on Saturday, September 13, 2025.
Sponsored by the County of Brant, and hosted by Jan Vilaca of Tasty Road Trips Inc., the tour offered both locals and out-of-town visitors alike, a guided tour through the core of Paris during the ongoing “Downtown Dig.”
Vilaca has hosted just over 20 tours since June, sharing bits of local history along the way and highlighting the best places to shop, eat, sip and explore in Downtown Paris.
‘These tours have been designed to support the downtown community, the Downtown BIA and the local businesses,” she said. “My whole intention is to help you safely navigate downtown through all the construction, and by the time we’re done with the tour today, I hope that you can look past the barricades and see the beautiful people and the shops that are still open during this time.”
Kicking off the tour outside at the Cobblestone Commons, located between 2 Rivers Restaurant and The Peddlar, Vilaca showed her tour guests the view of where the Grand River meets the Nith, and provided them with a brief history of how Paris, Ont. got its name.
According to an article written by Jean Farquharson for the Canadian Industrial Heritage Centre, back in 1793, Augustus Jones, the Deputy-Surveyor of Upper Canada, was surveying what would later become Governor’s Road when he discovered gypsum rock in the Grand River.
Years later, when William Holme, Paris’ first settler, purchased 1,000 acres and created his estate, he took advantage of the gypsum, using it as a type of fertilizer or soil conditioner, and he would go on to open the first gypsum mine in Ontario in 1822.
After Hiram Capron, who would later become the first reeve of Paris, bought the land from Holme in 1829, he continued to mine the gypsum from along the Grand River, building mills with his partners to grind and process the mineral into several products.
“When Hiram Capron, who was the first reeve of Paris, Ont., discovered that there was gypsum rock here, he realized that this was something that was going to help this community,” she said. “Now, gypsum rock, which is the mineral that is below Paris proper, is also used in plaster of Paris and so that is what we identify with, and it’s how Paris got its name.”
Before moving on from the spot, Vilaca shared insight into the town’s textile history and Penman’s Dam.
As the group made their way down Grand River Street north toward William Street, she pointed out all the local shops lining both sides of the street, providing a small run down of each of their businesses and what they sell, including John M. Hall Linens.
“John M. Hall is the oldest business in downtown Paris,” said Vilaca. “It was established in 1891, and it is a beautiful business where you get all things fabric and linens… I won’t take you in there today but it’s really worth going in.”
Continuing on the tour, the group stopped inside the Paris Bakery for a special little treat.
“Paris Bakery has been here since 1927 and when we started the tours, because I’m a food tour operator, I wanted to have a ‘taste of place’ experience for you,” said Vilaca. “So we did a little taste testing and we crafted something delicious that’s been made specifically for these tours.”
Jason Welch, who owns the bakery alongside his wife, Katie, then presented the guests with something called the “Big Dig Donut,” a glazed donut with whipped cream in the middle, Oreo crumbs (representing dirt) and a piece of Kit Kat representing the arm of a crane.
Moving along, the tour stopped briefly near Chocolate Sensations for a quick history lesson about Alexander Graham Bell’s first long-distance phone call to Paris.
“This plaque here represents the spot where Alexander Graham Bell made the first long distance phone call to Paris,” said Vilaca. “The call was received here by his assistant, Thomas Watson, and that was in 1876. So this a great monument, just because we’re always reaching out to people all the time.”
As the group made its way down William Street toward Broadway Street north, the tour guide continued to share more information about the various shops along the street, and several business owners, including that of One Sixty One and El Thrift, popped out to say hello to the guests and to share a bit about their stores.
Continuing on around the corner, the guests stopped just outside of Dark Crystal Cards to chat about the Mitchell House across the street, one of the first cobblestone homes built by master mason Levi Boughton.
As the tour came to an end down the road, Vilaca shared a bit of information about Paris Wincey Mills Co., the other stores along Mechanic Street and the future of downtown Paris with all the upcoming developments.
“We’ve had this boom in development but what it’s brought to this community is diversity, culture, multi-generational families, and just really beautiful offerings to this community that we didn’t have before,” said Vilaca. “I always say, these changes aren’t necessarily for my generation… it’s for the next generation to enjoy.”
Later, after the tour had wrapped, Waterloo resident, Shelley O’Regan, her daughter Kelly, who was visiting from Los Angeles, and their family friend, Terri Beckwith of Burlington, said they all enjoyed Vilaca’s tour
“It was great,” said Shelley. “It was really interesting and I loved hearing about the gypsum and stuff and how it became the plaster of Paris… I had never heard that before.”
“The whole experience really exceeded my expectations because I didn’t expect so much of a history tour,” added Beckwith. “I also think Jan was really so passionate, I mean, despite the fact she’s probably given this tour over and over, she was still just so enthusiastic and engaging.”
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
