On the Good Ship Lollipop, it's a sweet trip to a candy shop -- and it has been since 1960.
Pittsburgh's version has changed just a few times since then, but parents longing for nostalgia -- and a fun place to take the kids -- need look no further.
One such modification came in the form of the namesake candy treats themselves. Officials from Gateway Clipper Fleet, which owns the children's entertainment boat inspired by the 1934 Shirley Temple song, started off giving young passengers colossal lollipops in swirls of colors. During the past few decades, fleet officials experimented with different candy styles and have now settled on the simple translucent lollipops with small sticks, says Zack D'Alesandro, corporate adviser for the fleet and former general manager.
With the giant lollipops, "kids would take a few licks, get tired of it -- then, their hands got very sticky," D'Alesandro says. "Their whole faces were smeared."
The vessel used as the Good Ship Lollipop also has changed several times since the first boat's maiden voyage on the three rivers' juncture near Downtown. Other than these two changes, however, many parents who now take their children on the ship -- which entertains 37,000 people annually -- will experience deja vu about their days on board as effervescent little kids.
Lolli the clown is still there, entertaining as many as 150 eager kids on board by interacting, performing and handing out lollipops, D'Alesandro says. On a particularly crowded tour, two Lollis may show up, so there is enough of her to go around. Those concessions -- hot dogs, sodas, nachos, pretzels -- still are sold, and the boat still flaunts brightly colored "balloons" -- painted wooden discs with strings attached -- on its sides, he says.
The tune of Temple's famous song plays, and the captain narrates the tour with kid-friendly information about the rivers and each landmark passed, D'Alesandro says. The ship starts off at its Station Square dock and goes a short distance down the Monongahela River, then turns around and floats down the Allegheny River to the David L. Lawrence Convention Center. The Good Ship Lollipop then heads down the Ohio River to the West End Bridge and Davis Island, then returns to the dock.
Tours take one hour -- a perfect time span for children, who often would get bored on the longer adult cruises before the kids' boat came along, D'Alesandro says. Yet children compose only part of the ship's fans: The gateway fleet sells three adult tickets for every child ticket, he says. Grandparents often come with a parent and child, he says, and many adults -- eager to relive childhood magic with a short, inexpensive river tour -- hop on the lollipop boat by themselves.
"It's exciting and it's brief, and I think a lot of people like it that way," says D'Alesandro, who worked as general manager for the fleet for 25 years, starting in 1970. "It's educational as well as entertaining." Additional Information:
Details
Good Ship Lollipop
