It’s hard to say “The Holly Jolly Trolley” without smiling.
The smile comes not only from the sound of the name but the fun that is a trolley ride across downtown Kalamazoo during the holiday season.
The ringing of the bell at each stop, the caroling as it rolls along, waving to passersby on the sidewalks, cuddling as the chill comes in through the open back-platform, this is the stuff traditions are made of.
Last year 13,000 riders boarded the trolley and
Downtown Kalamazoo Inc. expects those numbers to climb again this year as they have each year since the trolley went into service in 2006.
When the trolley first began its route seven holiday seasons ago downtown boosters had no idea the ride would turn into the hit it has become. In fact, it started primarily from a strictly practical consideration.
Back then the aged parking facility known as the Gilmore Ramp on Farmers Alley, which had served a significant portion of the businesses on the Kalamazoo Mall, had been demolished to make way for the Rave Theater development. The replacement parking ramp was still under construction and would not be completed before holiday shoppers began making their way downtown.
Downtown Kalamazoo Inc., a private, nonprofit organization that manages many activities to benefit downtown Kalamazoo, needed a way to deal with construction delays, a way to get people from parking ramps to the businesses along the mall. But it also wanted to provide a memorable experience for shoppers and visitors. Trolleys have worked in other communities. Someone said why don’t we try it here and from the first season the Holly Jolly Trolley was a success.
Now it’s a part of the holiday that people in Southwest Michigan have come to expect. DKI’s Vicky Kettner says trolley rides definitely have become an attraction to downtown. People bring their children, they bring out-of-town friends and relatives, they come themselves to experience the rides. Downtown workers also use the trolleys during the lunch hour and to get about more easily on bad-weather days.
But this year, how those rides were going to happen was up in the air for a short but tense time.
The trolleys used in previous years have come from the City of Grand Haven where they shuttle people between the beach and the downtown during the summer. The trolleys were not deployed in the winter, which made them available when Kalamazoo went looking.
Then, after this summer, Grand Haven found itself in the position of having to spend major dollars in repairs to the trolleys and decided they were getting too much wear. Grand Haven officials decided they would not make the vehicle available in Kalamazoo for its holiday service and notified Metro Transit in August of their intention.
Bill Schomish, of Metro Transit, which has worked with DKI to provide the holiday service delivered the bad news. With a little over three months to find a solution the scramble was on to make alternative plans.
DKI needed two identical trolleys with a wheelchair lift, an open back-platform, and that certain something that generates holiday cheer and they needed them now.
To the rescue came
B&W Charters. The charter bus service based in Kalamazoo has been a part of the Holly Jolly Trolley service since it began as the provider of service on Sunday when Metro Transit did not run the trolleys.
With the days ticking away, B&W tracked down two identical trolleys complete with the necessary charm DKI needed, obtained financing, and had them delivered and inspected in time for them to be decorated with the trimmings that turn them into Holly Jolly Trolleys.
"B&W went out and bought them (the trolleys). They took the risk," with the idea that after the holidays the trolleys can be put to other uses, Kettner says.
Gene Wright, of B&W Charters, says they purchased the trolleys from a municipality for an undisclosed amount.
The service has evolved from one started by the public sector to one now provided by a private business. And the advantage of having B&W provide the service is a new flexibility, Kettner says. And the cost of the service is comparable to that paid when Metro Transit provided it.
Previously, the trolleys could not be used for anything except transporting people around regular routes across the downtown.
Because Metro Transit must follow specific regulations to continue to receive state and federal funds -- one of which is it cannot provide a service that competes with private business -- the uses of the trolleys were limited.
Now that a private business is operating the trolleys it is expected new opportunities will open up. For example, Kettner says their office and the Metro Transit office regularly received calls from brides and mothers of the bride hoping to book the trolley for wedding related events. Now those requests may be able to be granted.
"We’re still exploring what the opportunities might be," Wright says. "We have talked to people about creating partnerships and making the trolleys available for special events."
Riders of The Holly Jolly Trolley will find the new vehicles are little more spacious than those previously on the roads. The holiday cheer remains unchanged.
Kathy Jennings is the Editor of Southwest Michigan’s Second Wave. She is a freelance writer and editor.
Photos by Erik Holladay.