Be a Tourist in Your Own Hometown, which happens Sunday, isn’t just about free admissions.

It’s about behind-the-scenes peeks.

Kristen Guthrie has been with Visit Fort Wayne as long as Be a Tourist in Your Own Hometown has existed: 26 years. So, she is uniquely positioned to talk about how it has changed throughout the intervening decades.

She said that looking at tallies of the businesses and venues that have participated in the event over the years is a great way to chart how much Fort Wayne grew in that time.

“It’s crazy because there are many attractions on the list this year that did not exist that first year,” she said. “Many of the places you can visit this Sunday literally did not exist when we started this event 26 years ago.”

The premise behind Be a Tourist in Your Own Hometown is that there are people, maybe lots of people, who can live in a city for a long time without sampling many or any of the biggest tourist attractions in their city.

Be a Tourist in Your Own Hometown encourages those people to get up off their couches, or whatever they are sitting on, and try some of the best that the city has to offer (the best things the city has to offer that aren’t easily enjoyable from the vantage point of couches, that is).

But (as foreshadowed earlier) the appeal of Be a Tourist in Your Own Hometown for the reluctant partaker in the city’s bounty goes beyond frugality and thrift.

During this event, attendees will have chances to do things that they can’t do any other day of the year, no matter how much money they are willing to fork over.

For example, you can tour the High-A command center and locker room of the Fort Wayne Tincaps (devoid of players sooner than the city would have preferred).

And you can do things in the courthouse that you normally would never be able to do in the courthouse…unless you are trying to get arrested.

“It’s a day you can take your camera, take your phone, into the courthouse,” Guthrie said. “That is not normally allowed. People really appreciate that.”

The courthouse is beautiful even on days when you can’t snap photos of it. But do you really know what you are looking at? You will on Sunday.

“They will have tour guides on hand there too,” Guthrie said. “When you have someone explaining to you the murals and the history, you get so much more out of it.”

The Embassy Theatre’s backstage area and dressing rooms will be at attendees’ disposal, as will its roof. The summit of Trinity English Lutheran Church will be reachable as well.

“You can go up there in the spire,” Guthrie said. “It’s very behind the scenes. It’s very cool. It’s not normally accessible to people.”

Guthrie likens climbing that spire to finding yourself transported into “The Da Vinci Code” (film or movie; take your pick).

“Here you are in this brick spiral staircase,” she said. “It’s very cool.”

The roof of Electric Works will also be open, Guthrie said, and non-retail spaces on the Landing will be tourable.

Folks will definitely want to check out LC Nature Park, a 200-acre nature showcase in Roanoke featuring herds of bison and elk.

Passports for the event, which allow people to chart their progress, are available at the Visitor’s Center, some Kroger stores and all Old National Bank locations.

A list of participating businesses, venues and organizations can be found here: visitfortwayne.com/events/be-a-tourist