Where can you take a ride with royalty through “The Christmas Capital of North Dakota”? It may sound extraordinary, but it’s right here in Garrison with Queen Eliza-bus! No, you didn’t hear that incorrectly, she is a bus, and a grand old beauty, too! Every year since 1994, when Thanksgiving is over, the city prepares for the annual Dickens Village Festival, turning the community of around 1,500 into a quaint Victorian town the likes of which Charles Dickens himself would find familiar. On the weekends, families from across the region may bustle through the Christmas vendor markets, listen to the roving carolers sing, or perhaps even take in a viewing of a live performance of A Christmas Carol. A highlight of a visit to the festival, however, must surely be a ride with Queen Elizabus herself, named after another decidedly notable Brit.

The Queen, like her namesake, is indeed originally from England, yet her journey to Garrison is nothing short of fantastic. A 1961 Bristol Lodekka FLF model (which stands for “Flat Bottom, Long Body, and Front Entrance”), Elizabus was initially painted green, as only buses operating in London were painted the characteristic double-decker red. Only 1,867 of this model were ever built. Nearly fourteen feet high and thirty feet wide, she has a passenger capacity of 70. When the Queen was retired from service in the UK, she was purchased by a company in Denver, Colorado, crossing the pond to America. Seeing a great deal of the country as she moved from Colorado, to Georgia, and then by 2002, LeMars, Iowa, Elizabus unsurprisingly began to show her age. It was through the efforts of Garrison residents Dick Messerly and Mike Gackle that she finally arrived in the “Christmas Capital”, purchased for $5,000 in May of 2005.

Driven from Iowa to Garrison by another city resident, John Kallberg, the trip was slow-going, as Elizabus’ 6 cylinder Bristol diesel engine only allows a top speed of forty miles per hour. Kallberg drove the English way on the right side of a vehicle for the first time ever as he adapted to the four-speed manual transmission gear shift lying irregularly under his left hand. To top it all off, a hive of bees was discovered to be suspended above Kallberg’s head! Once the hive was removed and the eventful trek to Garrison was complete, Elizabus received the TLC she needed, and has since ascended her throne, now in her full ruby-red regalia, as Queen of the Dickens Village Festival.

Tickets to ride with Queen Elizabus may be acquired for the weekends during the Dickens Village Festival from late November through December. Other inquiries should be directed to the Dickens Village Festival Committee.