(The following article by Carol Graham was posted on the Grand Forks Herald website on December 8.)
GRAND FORKS, N.D. — Hundreds of thousands of lights decorate the Canadian Pacific Railway’s Holiday Train that will make its way through Minnesota and North Dakota next week.
Since its launch in 1999, the Holiday Train program has collected 378 tons of food and more than $1.9 million for North American food banks.
The 13-car Holiday Train also is a rolling entertainment venue and living quarters for nine musicians, Santa Claus, a cook, communication and public relations staff, a mechanic and a railroad police officer.
At each stop, a boxcar full of musicians will present a 30-minute show.
The Canadian Pacific Railway donates a check to the local food pantry, which collects food from the crowds who gather outside the live shows performed in the open boxcar. All donations collected remain in that community for distribution.
“The show goes on, blizzard or not,” said Laura Baenen, the public relations contact for the Holiday Train. “Bundle up,” she warns.
Baenen said many of the boxcars between the locomotive and the three cars used for private living quarters are empty.
“We had to have some length and a place to hang the lights,” she said.
The Holiday Train performers include John Gorka, a folk singer/songwriter who lives outside the Twin Cites. He wrote the music to “Christmas Bells” and used the words to Longfellow’s 1864 poem “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.”
Other Holiday Train performers and their Web sites:
Tracey Brown, who has performed with the tour since 2000 and produced shows for the 2004 and 2005 season. www.traceybrow.org/
The Ennis sisters from St. John, Newfoundland, earned the equivalent of Canada’s Grammy for best new country group for “It’s Not About You.”
www.ennissisters.com/
The Moffatts, international recording artists and Holiday train veterans. http://acmi.canoe.ca/JamMusicPopEncycloPagesM/moffatts.html.
Willy Porter, popular blues and folk festival acoustic guitarist and singer/songwriter. www.willyporter.com.
John Gorka, Hastings, Minn., recently performed at the Fitgerald Theater in St. Paul. and is working on his 10th CD. www.johngorka.com.
Amanda Stott has a new record, “Chasing the Sky.” www.amandastott.com/
Wayne Rostad, received two Canadian Juno Award nominations and has released several recordings.
John Landry from eastern Quebec, has been writing songs since he was 15, including several hits. www.jlandry.com/
T. Graham Brown, writer of award-winning country songs, earned a Country Music Association award. www.tgrahambrown.com.
There are two Holiday Trains. One travels through the United States and the other tours through Canada. The U.S. train began its journey Dec. 9 in Scranton, Pa., and makes stops in New York, southern Ontario, travels across northern Indiana to Chicago, where it uses the Empire Builder route to St. Paul. West of Minneapolis, the Holiday Train travels on Soo Line Railroad tracks through North Dakota, ending Dec. 17 north of Minot in Weyburn, Sask. The train terminates in Moose Jaw, Sask.
Minnesota and North Dakota train stops in the area will include:
Wednesday from 5:45 p.m. to 6:35 p.m., 300 E. Jefferson Ave., near Shooting Star Casino to benefit Helping Hands Food Shelf, and 8:05 to 9 p.m., Thief River Falls Depot/City Hall to benefit the Thief River Falls Area Food Shelf. In Thief River Falls, a spaghetti supper will be served from 4:30 to 7:15 p.m. at the Heritage Center to benefit the food shelf.
Last year’s event raised about $8,000 for the food pantry.
On Thursday, the Holiday Train will stop from 4:50 to 5:50 p.m. at the Main Street crossing in Elbow Lake, Minn., to benefit the Grant County Food Shelf. Moving into North Dakota, the train will stop at the former depot, 410 First St., from 6:45 to 7:35 p.m. to benefit the Richland-Wilkin Emergency Food Pantry, and the train will be in Enderlin, N.D., at the CPR Depot, 101 Harvest Lane, from 9:25 to 10:15 p.m. to benefit the Ransom County Food Pantry.
Central North Dakota will see the train Dec. 16 with stops at Carrington from 4:35 to 5:15 p.m. at the former depot at Sixth Avenue for the Foster County Food Pantry; Harvey from 6:30 to 7:20 p.m. at the CPR Depot, 600 Lincoln Ave., to benefit the Dakota Ministerial Alliance, and at the Main Street crossing in Minot from 9:20 to 10 p.m. to support the Minot Homeless Coalition.
Baenen said not everyone comes to town to see the train. “We see them at crossings along track or driving on the highway parallel to the track,”
she said. “Sometimes they wave and put on their dome lights.”
For more information about the Holiday Train, go online to www.cpr.ca.
The CD of holiday music performed by the traveling musicians can be downloaded from the Web page at no charge, and a photo gallery also is available.