Canadian Pacific (CP) will wrap up its Holiday Train tour in Weyburn on December 19 stopping at 512 Railway Avenue at 5:45 p.m.
The brightly lit train will stop in Weyburn to provide entertainment while raising food and money for the Salvation Army's food bank.
For 2013, Holiday Train supporters will enjoy the music of Jim Cuddy, Matt Dusk, Doc Walker, Melanie Doane, Tracey Brown, Willy Porter, The Claytones and other musical guests.
The 2013 CP Holiday Train program launches on November 25 in Kahnawake, Quebec, formally kicking off the three-week journey of two brightly decorated trains across Canada and the United States with its first U.S stop in Scranton, PA.
The Canadian train will wrap up its journey December 16 in Port Coquitlam, BC, while the U.S. train will journey across the U.S. Northeast and Midwest before its final show December 19 in Weyburn.
Since the Holiday Train program first launched in 1999, it has raised $7.4 million and 3 million pounds of food for local communities.
A typical Holiday Train event goes something like this: The train arrives and pulls to a safe stop in front of the crowd. The stage door lowers and the band opens with its first song. After that, a brief ceremony takes place which involves local food bank officials and other dignitaries. Once complete, the band resumes its show. After about a half hour that usually includes a mix of traditional and modern holiday-themed songs, the band plays its farewell show, the boxcar door closes, and the train slips off into the night on its way to the next stop.
Musicians traveling aboard the trains will play more than 150 free concerts from their boxcar stage.
CP asks that attendees bring a non-perishable food or cash donation, and all donations stay with the food shelf in the community where they're donated.
Items like infant formula, canned meats, and spaghetti sauce are in particular demand for the millions of North American's who turn to food banks each month.
Each Holiday Train consists of 14 brightly decorated railcars, including a modified boxcar that has been turned into a traveling stage for performers. For the 15th year, CP's elves have updated the thousands of LED lights that adorn the sides of both trains with new holiday designs.
Canadian Pacific's annual Holiday Train program is considered to be the longest running fundraising program in North America. The Holiday Train program travels across Canada and the United States raising money, food, and awareness for food banks and hunger issues. The Holiday Train reaches more than 150 communities each year for a combined distance of 10,000 kilometres (approximately 6,000 miles).
