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Area holiday tours continue successful tradition
For about the last two weeks, the Dolly HollyDay tours have brightened up the holiday season for several area residents.
The tours, which began Dec. 15 and continue through Dec. 30, take guests aboard Dolly the Trolley on an evening tour of area homes decorated for the holidays. Tickets for the nightly tours have been selling very well recently, Fort Scott Area Chamber of Commerce Tourism Director Cynthia McFarlin said.
"It's just great," she said. "Some Fort Scott High School girls are helping out as Christmas elves. We've had several sold-out trolley rides. People are really enjoying the tours -- they're having a ball. Kids get to sing and laugh and play."
This year, the tours are drawing mostly local people and their friends and families, but chamber officials plan to create a better marketing plan for the tours in the Southeast Kansas region and in other areas outside the region next year, McFarlin said.
"It's primarily a local thing this year," she said. "It's mostly local people, and they often bring friends and relatives from out-of-town. I think we'll be able to market it better next year in the region."
On the tours, passengers are able to join in on the singing of several Christmas carols led by local volunteers dressed as elves, view Christmas displays entered in the Light Up Fort Scott lighting contest, enjoy holiday treats, hear elf jokes, and participate in other activities. The tours are mainly geared toward providing a fun holiday event for children and young people, but adults have enjoyed the tours as well, McFarlin said.
"It's doing what it's supposed to," she said. "This is the audience -- little kids. But both adults and kids have fun. This is just fun. You don't have to sing well, just be enthusiastic."
The tours also provide passengers with views of nine local homes that are competing for cash prizes in the annual Light Up Fort Scott contest. In that contest, participants decorate their homes using one of three themes in honor of the holiday season; traditional, patriotic and religious. Passengers will also have the chance to vote on their favorite entries in each of the categories. The winner of each category will receive a $50 cash prize. Winners are expected to be announced early next month, McFarlin said.
Local resident Kevin Tennison, 648 Steen, said he and his wife have entered their home in the Light Up Fort Scott contest the last few years.
"It's basically for little kids," he said. "I have grandchildren who come by and see it. That's why I do it."
Among numerous other holiday-related items, the Tennisons' home is decorated with Christmas lights, and features snow globes, snowmen, Santa Claus, and even Mickey Mouse. The home is one of six entrants in the Light Up Fort Scott contest's traditional category.
Jack Stephan, a member of the Trinity Lutheran Church, 2824 S. Horton St., said the church has featured a wooden Nativity scene on the lawn in front of the church for at least 60 years. The lighted Nativity scene, which is designed and made by church members, is one of three entries in the contest's religious category.
"We've been at it for quite awhile," he said. "We've won it a few times. As far as I know, we've competed for several years."
Stephan said the Nativity scene symbolizes the "true meaning of Christmas," which is why the church displays the scene each year during the holiday season.
Other entrants in the Light Up Fort Scott contest include the homes of Thom and Joyce Prue, 802 S. Crawford St.; Shaunn Pytlowany, 906 S. Eddy St.; Charles Smith, 2400 Richards Road; Peggy Niles, 104 Archer Road; John and Kathy Killion, 1304 S. Little St.; Sheila and Robert Hixon, 317 Hulett; and Brian Judy, 305 S. Broadway.
McFarlin said there is still space available for the hour-long tours, which board at 6:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. nightly at the FSACC Visitor Center, 231 E. Wall St. Reservations, which cost $5 per person, are required and can be made by calling the chamber office at (620) 223-3566. Children under 5 years of age will be admitted on the tours free of charge. The trolleys can accommodate about 22 passengers for each tour.