The Canadian Pacific Holiday Train made its last stop of 2014 in Weyburn on Wednesday, December 17. The Holiday Trains make stops in communities across their service area, offering free concerts and seasonal festivities from a boxcar that they have turned into a travelling stage. The annual event sees CP Rail and the Salvation Army partnering together to raise food and cash donations for food banks across North America. To date, the train that travels through Canada, and the other one which travels through the United States, have covered over 100,000miles, raised close to $9.5 million and 3.3 million pounds of food since the program first began in 1999. The CP Rail Holiday Train wrapped up its tour right here in Weyburn, which marked one of 150 free concerts the entertainers provided over the three week process.
The Salvation Army was on site, providing free hot chocolate and collecting cash and food donations. Once the train arrived, the crowd was treated to a performance from country music artist, Kira Isabella.
The evening continued on with a presentation from CP Rail. A cheque for $5,500 was donated to the local Weyburn Salvation Army. The official results of the "Food Fight" contest between Barber Motors and the City of Weyburn were announced. Barber Motors came out on top with a collection of 638 pounds of food, compared to the 572 pounds of food collected by the City of Weyburn. Cash donations collected by the City of Weyburn, along with help from Enerplus and Crescent Point Energy, totalled $10,857. Barber Motors was able to collect $8,800. In the end, The City of Weyburn came out slightly ahead of Barber Motors in the food fight challenge as each dollar raised was counted as one pound of food. Either way, representatives of Barber Motors and the City both agreed that all fun aside, the real winner from the challenge was the Salvation Army and all who benefit from the work they do all year long.
Community members, along with Microtel, brought over 800 pounds of food that evening. CP encourages everyone who attends the concerts to bring along food donations. The successful event, which raised over $20,000 of cash/food value donations, will stay in the City of Weyburn.
Anyone who attended the concert can upload their photos to the website at http://www.cpr.ca/holiday-train/canada. CP Rail hosts a photo contest with the grand prize being a passenger on next year's Holiday Train.
