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 The carriage rides will be offered tonight
(Friday, December 15th) from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
On Saturday, December 16th rides will be offered from 10 a.m. to 1
p.m. and again from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
On Sunday, December 17th, rides will be offered from 10 a.m. to 1
p.m.
Riders are asked to meet the carriage on Pekin Street at the Arcade
walk-through. The ride will be around the Logan County Courthouse
Square.
The pair will return on Christmas weekend to offer rides on Friday
evening, December 22nd from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. and again on Saturday
December 23rd from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
The Erickson’s appeared before the Lincoln City Council on Tuesday,
December 12th, seeking permission and support for the weekend rides.
Keri Erickson explained that the couple have just recently moved to
the Lincoln area from Minnesota. In their former location, they
offered the rides in a couple of communities with much success. She
said in those instances, the individual cities had paid the expense
of having the rides so they could be offered free of charge to
downtown shoppers during the holiday season.
Erickson said she had contacted the Logan County Tourism Bureau who
had responded very favorably to the suggestion of the weekend rides.
Cris Wibben of the Tourism Bureau was on hand for the city council
meeting and confirmed that she had spoken with the Erickson’s, and
she felt that there was great potential for downtown businesses. It
was noted that this was short notice for the proposed program, but
there was a vision that if it goes well this year, the rides could
continue next year at the beginning of the holiday season and be
coupled with other special offerings to help drive shoppers to the
downtown area.
During the council meeting, aldermen were enthused for the idea of
having the rides, but challenged with how to move forward in a
proper fashion when it was not a voting night.
City Administrator Bob Mahrt said the council could do a “straw
vote” for approval, aldermen agreed and the request from the
Erickson’s was granted.
There was discussion about the payment for the rides. The Ericksons
had said that in the previous location, the communities had paid for
the rides. The city was not prepared to offer that payment for this
year, but the Erickson’s said they would do it anyway, without any
payment for the next two weekends in order to measure interest.
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The Erickson’s were asked if they
had a Certificate of Liability for insurance and they said they
did and would provide that to the city.
They were also asked about waste removal. Keri Erickson said
that the carriage they plan to use has a “catcher” so waste
removal will not be an issue.
The white carriage will seat approximately four to six people
and is drawn by a single horse. The couple also has a larger
wagon, designed to seat about 15 people that is drawn by a team
of horses. Keri explained that when they use the larger wagon,
they do work to clean up the waste from the horses, but because
they are often working in traffic, it sometimes becomes a
challenge to get that done.
Another challenge was what permit the city would issue for the
rides. On Wednesday, Mahrt contacted the Logan County Tourism
Bureau saying that the city could issue an “Amusements Rides”
permit to the Erickson’s at no cost, if they had a
not-for-profit sponsor. The tourism bureau took an email vote
and approved the sponsorship.
In addition, five Lincoln businesses, Michelle Bauer – Country
Financial, Community Action of Central Illinois, Flossie & Delzina’s, ME Realty,
and Spirited Republic partnered to offer financial support to
the Erickson’s in lieu of a payment for services by the city.
During the city council meeting, many of the aldermen agreed
that offering the carriage rides would be a nice accent for the
holiday season. All are anxious to see the success of the
project over the next two weekends and are hopeful it will
develop into something bigger and better next year.
[Nila Smith]
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