Now Casting:
Holiday Trolley Performers

Ride along on our Holly Jolly Christmas Trolley to host folks for a festive local outing, tell historic stories, play some holiday trivia, lead some holiday carols, and more!
No driving needed!

What is the gig?

We are casting likely two separate performers for this 5-week run of events.

Collaborate with the trolley driver to lead tours of up to 22 folks each time on a holiday-themed trolley ride (The Holly Jolly Christmas Trolley) with 1-2 short interactive stops off the trolley.

You’ll have a script and bullet points from which to tell historic stories, do some interactive games and conversations, lead a couple of Christmas carols, and more. Some memorizations of a script would be helpful to your performance, but notes and scripts are allowed.

You will be trained on how to handle everything, you just bring the personality and fun. Some festive attire/costuming required!

Duration of Dates

November 29 thru January 4, 2024.

Each day would entail either just short of 4 hours per evening (two tours), but sometimes just 2 hours (one tour). Exact schedule TBD, likely to be split up between two performers across 30+ nights. Typical hours would be 5pm-9pm or 7:15-9:15pm.

Pay

$35/tour (Roughly 1 hour 45 mins each, which comes out to roughly $18/hour) and usually two tours per weeknight, but just one on weekends. With two performers, pay could be close to around $1,000 for each performer for the run of events. Tips are also frequently given, and split with the driver.

How to Apply

Script

— • —

As you can imagine, Christmas celebrations and traditions date all the way back to Eau Claire’s early days. Of course, they were smaller and simpler back then when Eau Claire was just a cluster of lumbering villages built around the confluence of the Eau Claire and Chippewa rivers.

One of the first recorded Christmas celebrations was a Christmas dance held at Reed’s Hall back in 1857. That was one of the first large buildings in town, and it stood roughly where the State Theatre is today. A grand total of 60 tickets were sold for that Christmas dance. That might not sound very impressive, but bear in mind that two years earlier, there had only been enough ladies in town to make two couples! And with that kind of ratio, the women are always in charge!

One early Eau Claire Christmas memory was recorded by Fred Graham, son of one of the town’s earliest settlers. He recalled a Christmas celebration around 1870 at the Presbyterian Church on Barstow Street.

He said, quote: “It was the wonderful vision of Mr. Callahan dressed as Santa Claus, with a bag full of toys on his back, being lowered by rope from a trap door opening in the ceiling of the church. I can remember so well his descent clinging to that rope and twisting around and round. I am sure that such an act would be a sensation even in these modern days.”

Haha, well, we agree with Mr. Graham. When it comes to holiday entertainment, you can never go wrong with a Commando Santa.

— • —

Print this script »

*TIP - Write your answers in a separate document, then copy and paste them into the form.

Fill out my online form.