Oral history of Donna Campbell, Trolley Pub Guide

 Trolley Pub is a pub-crawling trolley powered by up to fourteen pedalers. Private groups can book the trolley for a two-hour tour of some of Raleigh’s most popular pubs including The RaleighTimes, Level Up, Flying Saucer, and Calavera. Individuals can also book a seat on a Mixer Tour. These tours include mixology lessons, tapas, and a handcrafted cocktail. The Trolley Pub, with its slogan “Pedal On Raleigh!” offers a unique, eco-friendly, fun-filled tourism experience. It is a great way to meet new friends and see Raleigh’s thriving downtown area.

Donna Campbell, a second grade teacher in Raleigh, enjoys driving for Raleigh Trolley Pub on the weekends for some “fun money”.  She is a third generation Raleigh native with a finger on the pulse of Raleigh’s tourism industry. Her passion and enthusiasm for the city and its heritage are contagious. Raleigh is part of her identity, and she is dedicated to keeping Raleigh pride alive. In fact, Donna, is both an advocate and an ambassador for Raleigh and its vision of equitable and sustainable tourism. She is engaging, charming, outgoing, and oftentimes, hysterically funny, yet her love of Raleigh is abundantly clear. As she speaks, Donna seems to exude the same vitality that epitomizes Trolley Pub and Raleigh’s downtown vibe.

Donna:

I guess I am the quintessential spokesperson for Raleigh tourism. My passion for the city stems from the stories of rich history I have heard all my life. My mother worked for Governor Hunt at the Capitol Building and later in the legislature, and my great-grandfather was conductor of the Raleigh Trolley years ago. So, when my son Duke started working for Trolley Pub, I realized how vibrant and exciting Raleigh was, and I was immediately thrilled to jump on board and follow in (a modified version of) my grandfather’s footsteps.

After hearing so much about the energy and positive atmosphere at Trolley Pub, my husband and I decided to try it with a friend as our driver. So I’m on the trolley pub, singing “Jingle Bells”, sitting on the cooler in the middle, thinking it is the happiest moment of my life. I said “I want to drive the Trolley Pub”, and I was hired! It’s great money, and I have a big personality for it just like my granddaddy!

My favorite part of working with Trolley Pub is being able to talk about Raleigh and its history. I absolutely love the history of Raleigh because I am part of it!  Also, it’s a motivation because I embrace this entire heritage.  Occasionally, I will get a customer that doesn’t care, but if they care, I am all over it!  It’s really fun when they do care!  I get so excited, that’s part of my motivation for this job.  I’m really proud of my state and my city, and I have all this knowledge, and I love all of it.  Raleigh is my hood!  I have so much family history here that Raleigh is part of who I am and sharing that with visitors gives me a big smile and lots of pride.

Trolley Pub works for me. The way it’s scheduled, it’s kind of like flight attending, and the money is so good most of the time.  It’s working for tips, so it can fluctuate.  Some drivers rely on Trolley Pub as their only source of income, but I do it for extra money, so it has been cool to put it in a jar and then decide how to use it!  Craig and I paid for our beach cottage for vacation with “our jar money”!

I just love talking about my Raleigh roots with my customers. I attended Edenton Street United Methodist Church, and I am proudly raising my children in the city of my birth. My mother worked in the legislature and worked for Governor Hunt. She worked there from the time I was in fourth grade, and then she was in the state capitol when I was in high school. I took two lunches because I was Mr. Teel’s (Needham Broughton High School’s principal) assistant. So I would go to the Governor’s Mansion on my breaks and see Mama after I ate.  I felt like I was the queen of Raleigh!  I’ve always wanted to work at the legislative building, and think I probably will one day!

Corporate bookings are really important to Trolley Pub’s business. We’ll have clients like Fidelity or some other corporation, and they will rent a trolley for the people they fly into Raleigh for the week; and they are on an expense account, and they are millennials. Those are fun groups because they know how to have a good time. That’s a lot of the business especially during the week from Monday to Thursday.

Most customers are generous, but some are stingy.  I assume that these customers must have never worked for tips.  Sometimes the person booking it handles the tip, and if you do a really good job, they will even go over and beyond that.  I find that people usually tip well if they have worked for tips before.  There is a big thing that says TIPS.  Most of the time I’ll say “Make sure you tip the bartenders, and save some for me”.  They think I’m funny, but it still reminds them.

I realize how important it is to gain and maintain the respect of government officials for the tourism industry.  These officials are major stakeholders in the future of Raleigh tourism, and they want to know that your business will hold the city in high regard while being fun and entertaining.  The owners of this company do a lot of networking. They go to City Council meetings, build relationships with the Raleigh police and the Chamber of Commerce. They find out what they want us to do and what they don’t want us to do.  Some local businesses want us.  We can bring butt-loads of money for them. Some can’t handle us bringing those large numbers of visitors to them, but some can. Trolley Pub does not want to be a nuisance in Raleigh; instead, it wants to contribute to Raleigh’s growth.

I really enjoy my customers. I usually begin my tour with “Hi I’m Donna, anybody’s mama named Donna?”  My customers are generally hard-working people, many of whom are millennials that appreciate the fun, relaxing, albeit unusual, experience that Trolley Pub offers.  I admit to questioning what, at my age, am I doing in this industry.  Mingling with the younger guests helps me stay relevant and current.  I believe Trolley Pub is a cross-generational activity. I relish the exposure to a sub-culture of hard-working restaurant employees and owners as well as those that hang out at the pubs, bars, and restaurants of our city.

I am proud of Trolley Pub.  It attracts guests of all ages and all walks of life who appreciate an adult beverage and lively entertainment mixed with some old-fashioned exercise.  Tourism in Raleigh is more than an industry anchored by popular restaurants, first-class hotels, renowned museums, and concert venues.  It is a network of diverse experiences provided by interesting local people.  I am really happy to be contributing to these experiences by working at Trolley Pub.

Oral history written by: Emily Newton and Zack Langston, NC State PRTM students