(The following story by Abe Winter appeared on the Journal Times website on December 3.)
STURTEVANT, Wisc. — The Holiday Train is on the way.
Yes, the Canadian Pacific’s Holiday Train, one of two that will make stops in many cities throughout the United States and Canada before Christmas, will visit the depot in Sturtevant for the first time. In exchange for a gift of a nonperishable food that will go to the Racine County Food Bank, residents will be entertained by a group of musicians who travel on the train.
The 800-foot train with its theme of Rails Fighting Hunger is scheduled to stop at Sturtevant at 8:05 p.m. Tuesday. It will be decorated in festive Christmas fashion.
“It’s going to be a spectacular light show, in addition to the thousands of Christmas lights on the outside of the train,” said Randall Prescott, an entertainer and music producer of the show for the two-week excursion in which Canadian Pacific Railway annually raises food, cash and awareness for food banks and food pantries.
The stage car opens on either side, depending on which side of the depot platform the crowd has gathered.
“We’ve got laser lights on the stage car, a special snowflake machine and a fog machine. Kids are going to love it. We’re aiming to wow them.”
Racine County residents are asked to bring nonperishable food items or money to be donated. The food isn’t placed on the train; rather, it’s placed in containers provided by the Racine County Food Bank and Burlington-based Love Inc.
There are 41 shows planned on the trip that started today in Scranton, Pa. It continues through the Northeast, southern Ontario and the Upper Midwest through Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota. The trip will end Dec. 16 at the international border crossing of Portal, N.D., and North Portal, Saskatchewan.
Another Holiday Train will follow the CPR’s main line between Montreal and Vancouver, British Columbia. It starts Saturday in Quebec and ends Dec. 20 in Port Moody, B.C.
The entertainers who are scheduled to appear in Sturtevant include, among others, Canadian entertainers Prescott; his wife Tracey Brown, a country musician; pop singers Bob and Clint Moffatt; and the Ennis Sisters, a folk-Celtic trio from Newfoundland. The latter, who will release their first U.S. album next spring, join the tour Tuesday just in time to perform in Chicago, Gurnee and Sturtevant.
Santa Claus’s visit also is a part of the Holiday Train shows, which are in their fifth year.
“The nice thing about it is that everything – all the money and food – that`s donated stays in Racine County,” Village President Steve Jansen said.
If you’re in the giving spirit and can’t make it for the Holiday Train visit, you can donate food and/or cash at the clerk’s office and Sturtevant Police Department or bring it to Love Inc. in Burlington.
“We want to make it a countywide event,” Jansen said. “We want families to come and have some fun. They can also bring food and money, whatever they can muster.”
Weather apparently is not a concern. The show will go on – rain or snow or low temperatures.
“It was so cold one year in upstate New York, I thought my lips were going to freeze to my harmonica,” Prescott said.
John Griffith, vice president of Tri-City National Bank, said many merchants are involved in getting the word out for the event.
“I think it’s going to be a great event,” said Griffith, also the vice president of the Mount Pleasant Kiwanis Club, which printed 2,600 fliers to distribute to school children. “Around the holidays, it’s a nice thing to do to help the Food Bank.”