Cody Trolley Tours shares the story of Buffalo Bill and some of the historic sites around the town he founded. The trolley business has seen fewer visitors this summer.

Cody Trolley Tours motto is “give us an hour and we’ll give you a hundred years.”

The tour starts and ends at Buffalo Bill’s Irma Hotel that opened in 1902. It highlights some of the ways the showman’s footprint is still felt today, from the rodeo he inspired to the dam named after him. Larry Munari drives the trolley.

“You’ll notice these nice wide streets we’re traveling on today, that's because Buffalo Bill himself had the town laid out this way,” he said.

The Friday morning tour was canceled because of too few numbers. About 20 people showed up for the afternoon ride. Tour guide Aili George said they are down about 400 rides from last year.

“Which is a pretty big difference in the last few years even after COVID we were able to get quite a few riders, it’s just been a really slow year,” she said.

While summer is winding down, Cody Trolley Tours usually runs until the first week in October. On a typical summer the town of Cody, population about 10,000, sees 300,000 - 400,000 visitors. Many of those visitors are on their way to or back from Yellowstone National Park as Cody is the gateway to the east entrance of the park.

Traffic counts for the East entrance show there was an increase in vehicles in May compared to last year. Traffic counts for June and July are lower than the previous year.

Overall, park visitation is up seven percent from last year, which was the second busiest year on record. July visitation is also two percent higher from last year. If strong visitation continues in August, the park could beat its own record. In 2021, close to five million people visited, the most ever.