Two innovations aimed at helping tourists get around and enjoy Church points of interest in Salt Lake City are being inaugurated this summer.
The "Pioneer Trolley" began July 5 and will run through Sept. 10, said W. Boyd Christensen, chairman of visitor activities for the Church.Running continuously from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day excluding Sundays and holidays, the trolley stops at these locations: Temple Square north gate, Relief Society Building, Church Office Building, Beehive House, Joseph Smith Memorial Building and Temple Square south gate. Along the way, the trolley passes the Lion House, Church Administration Building, Family History Library, and Museum of Church History and Art.
The locations are in a two-block area between North and South Temple streets and between State Street and West Temple. It starts and finishes on West Temple near the Tabernacle on Temple Square and across the street from the Family History Library and the Museum of Church History and Art.
There is no cost to ride the trolley.
"We have 38 wonderfully trained, enthusiastic trolley hostesses," Brother Christensen said. "They're all volunteers. They work two on a trolley, one at the front where passengers board, and one at the back where they get off. They narrate what's in this two-block area and tell about Church activities, Church events, public tours and so forth."
Margaret Adams, director of the Beehive House, supervises the trolley hostesses, he said.
"We're very excited about the response we've had already," he noted, adding that about 300 people rode the trolley the first day, and about double that number rode it the second day, even though there had been no advance publicity.
The second attraction introduced this summer is garden tours that cover the brilliant and lush plantings on Temple Square, the Church Office Building plaza, and elsewhere in the two-block area. The garden tours began July 20 and will extend past Labor Day until the fall season approaches, Brother Christensen said.
"These will be tours conducted by trained guides who are fully conversant about the shrubs, trees, flowers and gardens on the Church grounds," Brother Christensen said.
Under the direction of Peter Lassig, group manager of grounds services, 25 guides have been trained to conduct two tours a day excluding Sundays and holidays: one at 9:30 a.m. and one at 1 p.m. Call 240-5916 to arrange tours.
"It will give the public and Church members an opportunity to see all the beautiful flowers on the sites, the way they're planted, cared for and manicured," Brother Christensen said.
