What a beautiful evening for an Italian-themed holiday party! Tally-Ho was hired by Dennis and Gina Perkins to give carriage rides as one way to replicate their Italian experience for their friends. They went to Italy on their honeymoon in 2009 and loved it so much, they wanted to theme their party as a tour of the placed they visited; Florence, Rome and Tuscany.



They live in a gorgeous neighborhood in north Fresno that was perfectly suited to enjoying the horse and carriage. Dennis and Gina went all out - their yard and house were immaculately decorated for Christmas, and they had a service staff decked out as Venerian street mimes and waiters in Venician masks.



We also had our carriage decked out in our holiday-best decor.



Sonya and Star shuttled guests to the party from various parking locations in the neighborhood, then gave rides around the block to anyone at the party who wanted to enjoy the lights and solitude of a winter's eve.

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Even Argo was in the Christmas spirit!



The Perkins even hired a Victorian Santa to come and spread cheer. Here he is posing with Star and Gary.



What a great idea from some very creative folks! They loved their carriage rides in Rome and Tally-Ho carriage brought that memory to their party guests. Thanks to Dennis and Gina for including us in their event. We had a blast and thoroughly enjoyed meeting all the nice folks at the party.

We had more fun and spread more Christmas cheer on December 9th in downtown Visalia.


Larry & Cynthia Dove enjoying a ride

Tally-Ho, featuring Star, gave over 100 folks carriage rides during the Holiday Open House, week 2. What a great time!


Sonya singing and Argo...well..resenting the antlers


Rae Rae and Star looking stunning!


Cruising Main Street

On Thursday nights all during December, Tally-Ho has been contracted by the city of Visalia to conduct free carriage rides as part of the Downtown Holiday Open House - a revitalization project. These pictures are from the first night - December 2nd.


Star & carriage on Main Street with marching band in trail.

The process started with Sonya and the Bassets decorating the carriage in our company garage (home). Here is a before and after shot of the carriage...
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We parked our trailer in the Smart & Final parking lot and staged out of there. Since it was our first night, we arrived early and took our time with the prep...


Sonya and Argo Getting ready for the show...


...and special thanks to Fire Chief Gary for his assistance!


Star stepping-out on his route

Just prior to 5 pm, we "stepped-up" Star and we were off to the races. We did a loop down Main Street and back on Center Street, with several stops on Main. It was a beautiful, chilly winter night in a gorgeous town.

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We had a great time giving rides to over 80 folks. From old friends to new, everyone seemed to enjoy the novelty of a horse-drawn carriage decked out in holiday decor with a cute reindeer-Basset, a gorgeous Shire, and a pretty girl driver.



As we knew he would be, Star was a pro. He worked safely and steadily through his shift without bating an eyelash. From heavy traffic, to motorcycles and busses, to posing for pictures, to stopping at traffic signals, and even a marching band blaring Christmas songs, he performed like a seasoned veteran. We are so fortunate to have him on the team!



We will be providing carriage rides for three more nights in December so come on out and see us. The Downtown Visalia Business Alliance has gone all out with music, carolers, and even Santa showed up. If this doesn't put you in the holiday spirit, I don't know what would.