Every tour we run is built from local culture: the research in the county archives, the buildings other people preserved, the stories a town decided were worth keeping. A company that makes its living from a community's stories owes that community more than sales tax. So a share of what this company earns goes back to the people keeping the arts alive in the communities we walk, as part of our larger mission to support the arts in the communities we walk.
Where our support goes
Creative Flagstaff
Flagstaff's designated arts, science and culture agency, and the operator of the Coconino Center for the Arts. Creative Flagstaff funds and coordinates much of the city's creative life, from grants to the Viola Awards. In 2024 they named Freaky Foot Tours a Viola Awards finalist for Community Impact, which we take as a sign the giving is pointed in the right direction. Visit creativeflagstaff.org.
Flagstaff Shakespeare Festival
FlagShakes stages the classics the way the Renaissance did, actor-driven, and runs educational outreach across the region. If you have never watched Shakespeare performed a few feet away in a mountain town, fix that. Visit flagshakes.org.
Flagstaff Foundry
A nonprofit performing arts incubator whose monthly variety show gives anyone a stage to perform just about anything, from aerial to comedy to music. It is where a lot of Flagstaff performers get their first crowd. Visit flagstafffoundry.org.
Culture Connection AZ
A Flagstaff nonprofit fostering awareness and understanding of cultures and the humanities through classes, free events, music, poetry and world-culture programming on Birch Avenue. Visit cultureconnectionaz.org.
Schools and local nonprofits
Alongside the arts organizations above, we regularly support school programs and nonprofits across Flagstaff, Tucson and Prescott, from classroom fundraisers to community events. Most of that giving is quiet and we like it that way; the list above is the part with letterhead.
Why a ghost tour company funds the arts
Because we are an arts organization, just one that performs on sidewalks. Our co-founder researches and writes the history, our guides are storytellers, and the thing we sell is a live performance of a town's own past. The healthier a town's creative life, the more stories it keeps, and the better our work gets. Supporting the arts is not charity adjacent to the business. It is the supply chain. It sits alongside the rest of how we try to operate here, including the sustainability work that earned a Most Sustainable Tourist Attraction award in 2023.
Questions people ask
Does booking a tour actually support these organizations?
Yes, in the plainest way: this company's giving comes out of what the tours earn. There is no surcharge and no checkout checkbox. You buy a walk through your town's stories, and part of the proceeds helps fund the people keeping those stories alive.
My school or nonprofit is looking for support. Can we ask?
You can. We cannot say yes to everything, and we prioritize the arts, education and heritage work in the three towns where we operate. Reach us through the contact page and tell us what you are building.
Is this why the tours exist?
The tours exist because two people could not stop telling Flagstaff's stories. The giving exists because the tours worked. If you want the longer version, read about our founders on the about page.
Meet the people behind the company on our about page, see who tells the stories on the guides page, or read how we research our tours.