Running from 6 to 10 p.m., guests were treated to dinner from Saco caterers The Chef and the Gardener, and a cash bar that remained open throughout the night. Portland bluegrass outfit Gumption Junction serenaded attendees in the lobby area the entire evening.
Many attendees came outfitted in cowboy costumes or mariner outfits, resulting in group photos throughout the night at a TapSnap photo booth the museum had ordered for the event.
“When you go to something like this you want to have great pictures, and the TapSnap definitely gives people that opportunity,” Gates said.
“This is Downeast Meets Dixie, so we have New England cars and Dallas cars,” Gates said.
A higher turnout was expected, Gates said, but the rain likely caused some ticket holders to stay in for the night. Nonetheless, guests perused the inside of the museum, and many folks grabbed a 15-minute ride on the trolley cars showcased for the evening.
For many, the event was a blast from the past, old-time costumes aside.
Norm Forgey, who now lives in Scarborough, had been living in Dallas as a boy in the late 1940s when he would often take a trolley car from his mother’s house to his grandmother’s house, he said. Just a few years ago, he saw that same model car at the Seashore Trolley Museum.
“I told the conductor ‘I could have sworn I rode a similar car like that in Dallas many years ago,’ and so he brought me to the barn where the car was stored, and sure enough it had the exact same color scheme,” Forgey said.
“Now I have gone from riding that car as a little kid in Dallas decades ago, to riding it now, here in Maine,” Forgey said. “It’s really something special.”
— Staff Writer Ryder Schumacher can be reached at 282-1535, or via email at rschumacher@journaltribune.com.
Comments are not available on this story. Read more about why we allow commenting on some stories and not on others.
We believe it's important to offer commenting on certain stories as a benefit to our readers. At its best, our comments sections can be a productive platform for readers to engage with our journalism, offer thoughts on coverage and issues, and drive conversation in a respectful, solutions-based way. It's a form of open discourse that can be useful to our community, public officials, journalists and others.
We do not enable comments on everything — exceptions include most crime stories, and coverage involving personal tragedy or sensitive issues that invite personal attacks instead of thoughtful discussion.
You can read more here about our commenting policy and terms of use. More information is also found on our FAQs.
Show less