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What does that mean, exactly?
“It means a ton of fun. You’re always helping people celebrate something or other,” said Harper, 63, who has done a variety of things in his life: He was a theology student, worked as a video producer and earned a Ph.D. in education from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
The holidays are the busiest time of year for the company that operates eight trolleys on tires. Because of Christmas light tours, December is twice as busy as any other month, he said.
Families, community groups and businesses also use the trolleys for weddings, corporate events, birthday parties and bar-hopping on St. Patrick’s Day and other occasions.
Harper is responsible for everything from dispatching to training to making sure all the trolleys are running well.
And this year he’s the mastermind and guide for two new daytime tours from Dec. 12 to 28.
“Sacred History” tours will take place each Monday and Wednesday, making stops at several of the oldest churches in the downtown area — some dating to the 1850s and 1860s. Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, First Presbyterian Church and St. Cecilia Cathedral will be among the sites on the tour.
“An Irish Christmas at Boys Town” will run Tuesdays and Thursdays. Inspired by the 100th anniversary of Boys Town next year, it will drive past downtown landmarks such as the home’s first location and the Boys Town National Research Hospital, and end up at the current campus at 132nd Street and West Dodge Road, where participants will see the Hall of History, Father Edward Flanagan’s Christmas-decorated home and the gift shop.
Harper said his longtime interest in history and architecture made the new tours a natural fit. A year ago, he saw Trinity Cathedral for the first time and was awed.
“When I went in I was, like, ‘This is a living museum,’ ” he said.
He was an associate producer on a popular documentary about Omaha buildings, “If These Walls Could Speak,” that was produced by University of Nebraska at Omaha Television and the Nebraska Educational Television Network.
And he wrote his doctoral dissertation on the historical and mythological evolution of St. Nicholas, so he will share little-known facts about Santa on the tours.
Harper also has opened up the nighttime light tours to more people, offering individual seating on Monday nights. Previously, people could take the tours only if they were associated with a group that rented the trolley.
Ollie and the other trolleys have been around since the 1980s. Harper joined the company as a part-time driver, and when current owners George Davis and Deb Skinner took over, they promoted him.
He’s not sure when the Christmas light tours started, but said they’ve been popular for at least a couple of decades. He works with two professional light companies — Brite Ideas and Holidynamics — to find areas with lots of elaborate displays.
“We concentrate on those neighborhoods so we can give our passengers the most bang for the buck,” he said.
Drivers will pick up groups most anywhere: churches, a shopping center, restaurants, bars, even private homes. The Monday night public tours will take off from the Brite Ideas building at 156th Street and West Maple Road.
Harper counts his Ollie gig as his favorite job ever. He talks about the trolleys as if they are old friends.
“All of them have their own names and their own personalities — some a little more temperamental than others,” he said.
Gary Ogden Harper
Age: 63
Job: director of operations for Ollie the Trolley
Hometown: Omaha’s Westside High area
Hobbies: writing, playing soccer
Fun facts: He was an associate producer for “If These Walls Could Speak,” a documentary about Omaha architecture that was created by University of Nebraska at Omaha Television and the Nebraska Educational Television Network. He also was a video producer and director at Rosenblatt Stadium for 14 years.
elizabeth.freeman@owh.com, 402-444-1267
The Oracle of Omaha, Warren Buffett wants voters to show up on Election Day. And to do that, he’s relying on Ollie the Trolley.
“Today, I reserved Ollie the Trolley for November 8th,” said Warren Buffett.
The billionaire launched the website Drive2Vote.org. It not only helps people learn how to register to vote, but helps them find transportation to the polls.
In this video, Buffett vowed to personally escort voters to the polls – and take selfies – via trolleys provided by Omaha transportation service Ollie the Trolley.
“We’ve had an uptick in sales and reservations, that’s for sure,” said Ollie the Trolley owner, George Davis, about the impact of Buffett’s unexpected endorsement.
Need transportation for your corporate event, holiday lights tour, or wedding day transportation? Click here for a quote.
An Omaha classic finds new owners and new life.
Written by Kara Wesely
Photography by Bill Sitzmann
View the Firm Deal Winter 2015 Issue here.
The Wells Fargo Family Festival offers an afternoon of free family fun. Downtown arts and cultural institutions will provide free admission and hands-on activities for the entire family. Free trolley service provided by Ollie the Trolley will connect all participating locations from noon to 5 p.m. Families are encouraged to “Shine the Light on Hunger” and bring non-perishable foods and household goods for donation. Food donation barrels will be located at each Family Festival venue.
Official site: http://www.holidaylightsfestival.org
Every year, Ollie the Trolley participates in the Holiday Lights Festival, making it a special experience for everyone attending the event!
OMAHA, Neb. —On Earth Day weekend, more than 100 young volunteers helped spruce up downtown Omaha.
Students from Central High School worked to keep the Old Market fresh during the 17th annual Omaha Downtown Cleanup.
“I’m seeing a lot of cigarettes on the ground and a lot of random paper, and ads and stuff,” said Amani Pope, a sophomore.
The area is near and dear to Pope.
“The Old Market is like my home,” Pope said. “I see it as a beautiful place so I want everybody else to see it like that.”
Volunteers were able to make the most of their time thanks to Ollie the Trolley giving them a ride.
Students have been working together to promote volunteerism.
“We’ve been getting a lot of attention,” said Garson Sears, a junior.
Tim Chasteen stopped by while visiting from Kansas City.
“This is a nice part of town, and I think everybody enjoys being down here, and it was really nice to see them helping to clean it up,” Chasteen said.
The students said they hope visitors come back to Omaha.
“I don’t really see anything better I could be doing right now because it’s a good feeling,” Sears said.
Central High School and Downtown Omaha, Inc. organized the cleanup efforts. Local businesses donated trash bags and food.
Rolling around downtown in Ollie the Trolley, perhaps Omaha’s most nostalgic mode of transportation, Durham’s tour guide Molly Gruber, educated passengers of Omaha’s upstanding, founding gentlemen.
“Those early businessmen, who came to Omaha to help us grow and prosper, weren’t actually the most legitimate of all citizens,” Gruber said. “They were raised on the three “R”s of ruthlessness, restlessness, and resourcefulness; not reading, writing, and arithmetic.”
Some of the most revered gentlemen of Omaha, including one of the Creighton brothers, had a few run-ins with the law, mostly for drunken misconduct, according to Gruber.
Bouncing along downtown, Gruber told about the earliest streets of Omaha–unpaved and unkempt, the streets overflowed with mud and sewage, so thick lace-up boots would be suctioned right off of the feet of the women who wore them.
The most exciting part of the tour began as the trolley rounded Riverfront Drive…
“Welcome to the Red Light District of Omaha,” said Gruber.
The red light district boomed with brothels in the late 1800’s, mostly ran by madams or what Gruber called “businesswomen.” Stopping near the Courtyard Marriott on 10th and Dodge, Gruber pointed out the former spot of perhaps Omaha’s most famous lady of the night, Anna Wilson. Wilson, who became known as the “Queen of the Underworld,” was a savvy businesswoman, who took care of her employees.
“Anna believed in the sanctity of marriage as well as true love,” said Gruber. “So if any of her girls found that, then she held the most elaborate weddings and receptions Omaha had ever seen. If the marriage ever fell on hard times financially, then Anna would help them until they could get back on their feet again. If the marriage failed for any reason, then Anna took that girl back, and got her back on her feet again doing whatever it was she possibly wanted.”
After her death in 1911, Wilson was buried a few feet above her business partner and boyfriend, Dan Allen, in the Prospect Hill Cemetery in north Omaha, but not without controversy.
“Prospect Hill refused to sell Anna Wilson a plot,” Gruber explained. “They said she should be buried in a pauper’s grave. They did not want Omaha’s most notorious madam buried in their cemetery.”
“She also bought plots at Forest Lawn Cemetery,” Gruber said, “And if Prospect Hill continued to have issues with her being laid to rest there, then she was to be moved, and any and all money she had willed to Prospect Hill was supposed to be reverted over to Forest Lawn. So Anna Wilson is still laid to rest at Prospect Hill Cemetery.”
In fact, Wilson was encased in nine feet of cement to avoid future excavation by disapproving citizens.
The tour rolled on with Gruber pointing out other brothels, gambling dens and hang outs, some standing and some long torn down. In fact, it was such a den of debauchery, one writer urged travelers to stay away completely, as Gruber explained, reading an excerpt of a poem published in an 1869 edition of Harper’s Magazine: “Where everything is overdone and everyone is underpaid. If not take heed to what I’m saying, you will find it just as I have found it, and if it lies upon your way, for God’s sake readers, go around it.”
The Gritty City tours runs again Sunday, August 21st and Saturday, September 17th at the Durham Museum.
