For our 30th anniversary celebration this month, we’ve launched the “30 Stories for 30 Years” interview series! We’re speaking with past board members, and some others who have been along with us for the ride throughout the years. Join us as we look back on local tourism’s evolution, Ottawa Visitors Center history, and a special guest’s unique perspectives – all in honor of 30 years in the Middle of Everywhere.

This entry is a special one. We recently sat down with Tom Aussem of Awesome Ottawa Tours. Tom has been providing tours on Ottawa’s varied history since 2018. Here at the office, we’ve gotten pretty used to him dropping by regularly and telling us about his latest tour! As a tour guide and tourist information center, it makes sense as to why we’d work closely together, so for this tour of Ottawa’s past, Tom got us started with a history lesson.

“So, my history with the Ottawa Visitor Center goes back to probably 17 years ago, or so, 16 years ago, and that would have been with the hot dog cart, so I had Awesome Dogs running on Washington Square, and that was when the Visitor Center was in the caretaker’s house of the Reddick Mansion. And I would run over and use the restroom, and I’d send customers there, as the tourists would come for hot dogs, I’d send them over there. Or I’d go over and get pamphlets and information to hand out from the hot dog cart. When it was placed on Washington Square, that’s really how I got to know the Visitor Center and people who were working there at the time. And Julie Johnson, I think was the head at the time, and that was my first involvement,” Tom said.

“Of course, my involvement with Ottawa goes way back to like 30 plus years ago, I owned a historic bar in town, and that’s when Main Street USA was a nationwide revitalization program for small towns across the U.S., and Ottawa became a member of that. And so I was involved with Main Street Ottawa USA way, way back, before even Bob Eschbach had an inkling to be the mayor. And so, I was in on the ground floor of attracting tourism and getting the things in place to make that happen for Ottawa.”

Looking back on this era has been so exciting, it’s like seeing history made right before your eyes. it just goes to show you all the moving parts in the engine of tourism! Keeping this tourism industry and development experience in mind, we asked Tom what tourism, in relation to Ottawa, means to him.

“Look at it as in a thought board with… let’s in the center, let’s have the ‘Success of Ottawa,’ and now that could mean many things. It could be financial success, it could be watching our population increase, it could be infrastructure, it could be bars, restaurants, stores. But the success of Ottawa hinges on tourism. because let’s go back 40 years, 50 years, 100 years, and industry was the backbone. Back when we had five brick factories, and we had many glass factories, and we had mining going on,” Tom explained.

“We just had many different industries that people could be here, and work, and succeed. Here in Ottawa through our industry. Well, we don’t have those industries anymore, and no small towns do. We’re lucky to have what we have. We still have Pilkington Glass Factory. There’s been a glass factory in Naplate since 1898. We still have some sand mining going on, but we don’t have brick factories, and we’ve lost a lot of that industry. But tourism is a great way to continue to be a viable community and bring those easy tourism dollars into this community. It’s one of the eggs in the basket of the success of Ottawa, that is so necessary. Now, if you have no history, you know, every town has history. But if you have no history, you don’t have anything to lean on.”

“Luckily, here in Ottawa, we have so much history to lean on. And then just lucky breaks over our tenure as a city, have made us a beautiful downtown. It would have been easy in the 1950s, early 60s, when Interstate 80 came in, it would have been easy for the City of Ottawa to run sewer and water up to the interstate and start to spark industry and commerce on the north side of Ottawa, pulling that traffic off the interstate. But what would happen is, it would kill our downtown. And so we didn’t do that immediately. And that’s why we have the beautiful, viable downtown that we have with these historic buildings. And you know, a lot of people, they look at our downtown and they think, ‘Man, this downtown is gorgeous, these beautiful buildings,’” he said.

“Well, that’s not the first iteration. You know, every downtown building we had was wood originally, and it was rocking and rolling. And there’d be people walking the streets, you know, hundreds of people walking the streets day after day, taking advantage of everything that Ottawa offered. And now the brick buildings that we have, the new buildings that we have, which is, you know, the brick, just create such a beautiful landscape for people to work comfortably and shop in. It’s wonderful.”

There truly is so much Ottawa history to share. From the old industries, to the I&M Canal, Civil War era, and so much more. Ottawa’s historically significant past is a unique gift. Many people and organizations have done extensive work to honor it. Tom tell us about this as we asked how tourism in Ottawa has come evolved in the last 30 years through the downtown.

“That covers my time frame when I started my involvement, that was 30 years ago. And, night and day. I remember in high school, we used to call downtown Ottawa, was ‘the Concrete Jungle.’ It was boarded up buildings and everything was stark. There was no greenery. Everything that you see that has beautified the city of Ottawa, and I mean everything in the historic district, that’s between the canal and the Illinois River, everything you see has come in the last 30 years. We have beautified the buildings that we had in existence, but we’ve added the plantings, the flowers, the trees, the historic lighting, the signage, all of that came in the last 30 years,” Tom said.

“Now, my aspect of things with Awesome Ottawa Tours, now we have somebody telling the stories. Before, we didn’t have that. People could show up to Ottawa and stand in Washington Square and just kind of guess maybe what was going on, and we now have some dioramas, some informational plaques that tell a little bit more,” he explained. “But now people can come to town and they can take a tour with Awesome Ottawa Tours and hear why things are and how things were and where we are now and where we’re heading in the future. And with all of the vast history that we have, our significance in the Underground Railroad, the Radium Girls of Ottawa, Illinois, Lincoln-Douglas debates and the importance of Ottawa to Abraham Lincoln. It comes out in one of our tours now.”

There’s just so much history that now it’s wrapped in a pretty package because that history has always been there. But now we’re telling it in a fun way, not a boring history way, in a fun way, wrapped in this beautiful package of downtown Ottawa. It’s glorious,” he said.

Downtown Ottawa makes a picturesque backdrop for any trip downtown, no matter the ocassion. When you think of Awesome Ottawa Tours telling the stories and the Ottawa Visitors Center sharing the stories of a beautiful town, it just makes sense as to how it all works out so well. Of course, events and attractions are a huge part of this in Ottawa. We asked Tom if he could point out a favorite event or attraction in town.

“You know, very hard to answer that since I don’t get to go to a lot of events. I work every event, right? So I’m always working whenever they happen. But personally for me, as a gay man, the fact that we have such a huge and successful Pride event, and it’s not a standalone. There is a historic reason why Pride is so successful in this town, and you can take it all the way back to the 1800s,” Tom said.

“When we were fighting for diversity, equity, and inclusion for enslaved people who were trying to escape slavery and get up to Canada, up to freedom in Canada. That sentiment has locked in in this town, and it made it an easier path. Now, the Pride event, it took a lot of work to get it to where it is today and what did they see, like 13,000, 14,000 people last year? But that rests on the back of our forefathers, our abolitionists from back in the 1800s. They set the tone of this town, and that’s why it was easy for that Pride to come along and Pride to claim Ottawa as one of their own. Those are all reasons why it’s so successful here.”

“But I say Ottawa is the greatest event in Ottawa. This gorgeous town with this rich, crazy history, and the history is absolutely unbelievable. Not to mention the fact that it’s gorgeous here, absolutely gorgeous in this town. And it’s a safe town, and it’s an affordable town, and there’s easy access to get in and out. It’s a wonderful place. Ottawa itself is the main attraction every year in this town,” he added.

And the stories, history, and heart of Ottawa are what we love at the OVC! In another post, we mentioned the “grand mosaic of people, thoughts, and ideas in the answers” of another question. We think that holds up here too. Ottawa is the Middle of Everywhere for a reason; it exists at this intersection of rich history, exciting events, beloved attractions, and more. For that same reason, we asked Tom if he would like to see any old events or attractions be brought back, or if he’d prefer something new. Here’s what he had to say:

“No, ‘cause that’s stupid. Never look back. Everything’s changing. What people like, what people want is constantly changing. You know, if you want to… reconfigure like Friendship Days or Riverfest or something like that. And I think there’s some talk of some of that coming back. And that’s great. I’m not against it. But let’s look forward. Let’s make it Riverfest 2.0. Let’s make it Riverfest 2026 to more be in tune with what people like and what people want to do because nothing ever stays the same,” Tom explained.

“And that’s the important thing about the city of Ottawa. We adapt to changes. And that’s why we are so successful, to this day. And, you know, look back and grab the best parts of Riverfest. You know, Riverfest, I have fond memories of Riverfest as a young man going to the beer gardens, listening to Eddie Rabbit back in the day. That’s the one that I remember distinctly. But those were fun,” he said.

“So, yeah, pull great things that worked in the past, but you have to always be looking at the future. What’s going to work today?What will work in the future? And Ottawa is a forward-looking town, now. We went through decades and decades and decades where we weren’t. And starting about 30 years ago, we became a forward-looking town, and we still are. Like our amphitheater that’s going to go along the river, where the central school used to be. And that’s going to be huge. That’s going to be a game changer.”

One thing is for sure, Ottawa is a forward looking town! We are the home of the Revolution mural after all, honoring women’s suffrage in 1919 and a tribute to Ottawa’s, and America’s woman’s independence. We’re always on the move, adapting, and evolving. And we can’t wait to keep sharing all things Ottawa for the next 30 years too. In this vein of things, we asked Tom if he had any closing thoughts looking onward for the future of tourism in Ottawa.

“We were talking about tourism, and this is the Ottawa Visitor Center 30-year anniversary. The Ottawa Visitor Center is the most important cog in the wheel of tourism in Ottawa. A location that is specifically focused on bringing people to this town, is vastly needed. And it is the major conduit to increasing the population in our area. We always have to be looking at bringing new people into this area. New, younger people, who can maybe work remotely from here, or can hop on the train and get up to their offices in the Chicago and the suburban area. But it should always be about increasing the population,” Tom explained.

“We need to bring more people in this town. Because if you don’t have more people in your town, you’re going to die. And new people bring new ideas and new concepts, new restaurants, new stores. That’s what we need. We need new people. We need new blood. We need new insights. And to keep Ottawa diverse, inclusive, and equitable city, we need to have those different viewpoints. And the Visitor Center is a major, major component of introducing this town to people that hope maybe, they’ll move down here.”

Sharing this great community is a truly a gift itself.

Many thanks to Tom for sitting down with us! Stay tuned for more updates and interviews on 30 Stories for 30 Years on our Facebook and here on our blog