Visit Macon Announces Acquisition of Rock Candy Tours – 41NBC News

“We are excited about this opportunity and what it means not only for tourism, but also for the growth of our community,” said Gary Wheat, CEO of Visit Macon.

MACON, Ga. (41NBC/WMGT) – Visit Macon announced Wednesday that it has acquired Rock Candy Tours.

Now officially called Rock Candy Tours powered by Visit Macon, co-founders Jessica Walden and Jamie Weatherford have transitioned the business after 13 years due to overwhelming demand, with the hope that Visit Macon can continue the work and take the business to the next level.

“In 2011, right after the Georgia Music Hall of Fame closed, our simple mission was that Macon’s music history wouldn’t have to live in a museum, it would live on our sidewalks, on our street corners, and if our streets could talk, they would sing,” said Jessica Walden, current president and CEO of the Greater Macon Chamber of Commerce. “And the day after the Music Hall of Fame closed, we met in Washington Park and about 40 people showed up for our first walking tour, and from there we just walked and talked and shared the history of making music.”

“We met at the Newtown (Macon) office and they said, ‘What do you want to call it?’” Walden recalled. “Well, I’m a second-generation rock ‘n’ roll kid and, as you can see from Jamie (Weatherford), he’s the production manager for the family business, a candy company, so I immediately said, let’s call it Rock Candy Tours and see what happens, and that’s how it all started.”

“It was hard for us to scale,” she continued. “It was very hard for us to scale when the demand is there, when people want to go on tours regularly, when they want to hear more. We expanded our product, not just to music history, but also ghost tours, food tours, brewery tours, but we still couldn’t do everything, and of course we have the team of guides today that Jamie will mention, but then the idea came that in order to meet this incredible demand that we have for the history of Macon, Georgia, we could essentially turn our business over to Visit Macon so they could take it to the next level. I can’t imagine a better entrepreneurial dream, and also a love of making music and a love of this community, as a better partner to do that.”

“The future is super bright in Macon and we hope it works and we are so grateful to the staff at Visit Macon,” Weatherford said. “They don’t get enough credit for all the great things that happen in Macon and all that they do to keep the legacy of Rock Candy Tours going.”

“Macon has become bigger than Atlanta, in my opinion,” said Justin Andrews, chairman of the board of Visit Macon. “With everything that’s happening here in Macon, obviously the park, the new center, all the festivals that are happening here, it’s the center of entertainment here in Macon, Georgia. So thank you Jamie and Jessica for starting this. Thank you for allowing Visit Macon to continue to do this.”

“My first week working here, almost eight years ago, Jamie introduced himself, said, ‘I want to take you on a trip,’ and I said, ‘Sure,’” said Gary Wheat, CEO of Visit Macon. “So he bundled me into his car and after three hours he finally said, ‘Man, I have a wife and a kid at home, we have to go.’ And it’s been a great friendship ever since.”

“To be able to bring our tours here, Visit Macon, under the Rock Candy brand, this iconic Macon brand, is a huge celebration for us,” Wheat continued. “And not just Freebirds and Night Owls, Macon Macabre and our Soul Sites tours. They’re all under one name, and we’re excited about this opportunity and what it means not only for tourism, but for growing our community and telling our stories.”