Polar Express crew in high gear as holidays approach
Published 9:50 am Friday, October 21, 2016
- Polar Express marketing coordinator Debbie Nelson and Don Clayton, half of the event management team overseeing the return of the holiday train ride excursion, check out the locomotive that will carry families to the North Pole, beginning November 18. Sheila Pounders is the other half of the management team. The Panolian photo by Rita Howell
Polar Express marketing coordinator Debbie Nelson and Don Clayton, half of the event management team overseeing the return of the holiday train ride excursion, check out the locomotive that will carry families to the North Pole, beginning November 18. Sheila Pounders is the other half of the management team.
The Panolian photo by Rita Howell
Polar Express crew in high gear as holidays approach
By Rita Howell
Don Clayton did not ride the Polar Express last year, when it made its first appearance in Batesville.
But this year, he’s up to his neck in preparations for the holiday-themed excursions set to begin November 18.
Clayton and his business partner, Shelia Pounders, were hired as event managers in September by Iowa Pacific which holds the Polar Express franchise and owns the orange and brown vintage train parked on a sidetrack near downtown Batesville this week.
Clayton and Pounders run Court Street Patio restaurant and catering business in Batesville.
But this week Clayton was unloading a shipment of merchandise for the Polar Express Gift Shop.
“I got a call at 5 o’clock one afternoon,” Clayton said. “UPS needed to deliver 17 pallets.”
So he helped unload cases of conductor’s hats, snow globes, books, Santa hats, and other trinkets.
The retail space next to Stubb’s has been rented for use as the gift shop and ticket office.
Ann McDowell will manage the gift shop and Jamie Hubbard is in charge of tickets.
Other staff members include Debbie Nelson of Oxford, marketing coordinator; Victoria Fondren of Sarah, administrative assistant.
As of Wednesday, 17,707 tickets had been sold.
“We’re tied with the Oklahoma ride for the most tickets sold,” Pounders said.
There are plenty of seats left, with the train making 76 round trips to the North Pole Nov. 18-Dec. 23.
Last year, 60,000 people took the trip from Batesville, the only location in the Mid-South where the Warner Brothers franchise operates to recreate the fantasy train ride depicted in a children’s book by Chris Van Allsburg, and the popular motion picture.
A staff of 184 cast and crew, including elves, chefs, and Santa, will entertain pajama-clad families who will consume sugar cookies and 200 gallons of hot chocolate per run.
See grenadapolarexpressride.com for information.
