After more than 35 years of ferrying Clevelanders and tourists around the city in their iconic red trolleys, Lolly the Trolley will cease operations at the end of this month, owners Sherrill Paul Witt and Peter Paul announced today.
The pair cited Covid, which had put the tour company on a two-year hiatus, and other factors.
“Our company from day one has always been the people we hired from all walks of life who had a passion for Cleveland. Over the years, this talented, loyal and enthusiastic family of employees helped carry our mission forward…to provide a fun, educational experience and, in the process, totally change people’s opinions about Cleveland,” Sherrill Paul Witt said. “We will always be proud of what we did to help Cleveland become the dynamic city it is today. Though it saddens us to end this wonderful 37-year love affair with Trolley Tours and with Cleveland. It is time for us to move on to our next adventures in life.”
For the past 37 years and some 3.1 million miles, Lolly has witnessed the evolution of Cleveland.
“There were few people living in downtown in 1985 and there was no Rock Hall or Science Center. Baseball and football were at the old Municipal Stadium and the Flats, Ohio City and Tremont were just developing with urban pioneers working on rehabbing homes and loft spaces. Playhouse Square was in its infancy and the Cleveland Clinic was bringing Euclid Avenue back to life. In spite of it all, we entertained people with Cleveland’s colorful history and future predictions of what was going to come, all said with our fingers crossed," Paul Witt said.
