By Helen Borland  / Staff

Last year they sold every one of the 1,000 tickets for this gala affair and had to turn people away. This year, Morgan Timmis, Roswell's Historic and Cultural Affairs Manager, expects another sell-out crowd for the popular August 21 event.

The Trilogy Trolley Crawl is a fun and unusual way to spend a summer Saturday night. There are three historic homes on the tour, but this is not your grandmother's tour. The homes will be decorated to depict three different American cities: Nashville, Las Vegas, and New York. The food and drinks, catered by Talk of the Town of Roswell, follows the theme of each home.

A LITTLE BIT OF COUNTRY

For country and western music fans, Bulloch Hall at 180 Bulloch Avenue will probably be your first stop. The grounds and historic home will be transformed into a Nashville Grand Ole Opry "look-a-like" and will include all of the fun that goes with that hand-clappin' and knee slappin' southern music. Polish your boots and come on out to dance a two-step and twirl your gal or toe-tap to the great sound of the award-winning Jamie Pelfrey Band. How could they serve anything but a BBQ pork slider with Tennessee slaw and a mini moon pie? And keeping with that great Tennessee tradition, the signature drink will be good ol' Lynchburg lemonade (that's Jack Daniels and lemonade).

SHAKE, SHAKE, SHAKE

Hop on one of the trolleys that will be circulating when you're ready and head to Smith Plantation at 935 Alpharetta Street. You'll think you've come off the subway and into the streets of The Big Apple with the modern music and foods found throughout New York City. Here's the place you can shake your booty and dance at the newest version of "Studio 54" with famous local DJ, Steve the Extreme. When you're ready to give your feet a rest, you can munch on mini-pastrami on rye with chips and a NYC Black & White cookie. The signature drink at the Smith Plantation this evening will be the "Cosmo."

WHITE SHIRTS AND BOW TIES 

The next trolley ride will take you to the third stop on the Trilogy Trolley Crawl. The grounds at Barrington Hall at 535 Barrington Drive will be filled with the exciting sights and sounds of the Las Vegas strip. A casino will be set up where you can "gamble" while Brookwood Split plays for your listening pleasure.  The Vegas bill of fare consists of a "Caesar Salad" with Chicken Strips and a slice of that ever-popular Wedding Chapel Cake. The "Rat Pac", a classic vodka & tonic, will be the featured beverage at Barrington Hall.

Each $40 ticket will provide admission to all three homes, transportation between the homes, mini-sampler plates of food at each location and one drink ticket. Additional drinks will be available for purchase.

There will be six trolleys that will continuously loop to transport guests from site to site. In addition to parking that will be available at each historic home, parking is available at the First Baptist Church parking lot on Mimosa Boulevard. You are welcome to begin your evening at any one of the three locations at 7:00 pm. The parties end at 11:30 p.m. If you have any energy left, the Canton street restaurants will be awaiting your nightcap visit.

This year's event, like last year's, has been designed for people who might not otherwise visit historic house museums. "We specifically wanted to reach out to individuals who might not be drawn to history and last year we learned that approximately 80 percent of the 1,000 attendees had never been to our properties before. And, they all agreed that the houses are pretty spectacular and most said they would return for the full tour. That’s exactly what we hoped would happen," said Timmis. "We sold out of tickets last year and had to turn people away. This year we are expecting to sell out again so people need to get their tickets early!"

Tickets are limited and no tickets will be sold at the door. They can be purchased at the Alive After Five event, any of the three historic houses, The Chandlery or Taylor Kinsel Gallery on Elizabeth Way or at www.southerntrilogy.com. The last day to purchase tickets is Monday, August 16. Look for the article "Lady Liberty Contest" in today's paper to find out how to win free tickets.

The Trilogy Trolley Crawl has a dozen sponsors, but is not a fundraiser, according to Timmis, "It would be nice if it were. We are doing this to try and pull an audience to these wonderful historic sites that wouldn't otherwise necessarily go." Marketing with the joint branding "Southern Trilogy", Timmis hopes to "build stewardship and patronage" of these three important Roswell Historical Sites.