Hundreds of Castlegar residents lined the railway tracks on Monday afternoon to welcome the Canadian Pacific Holiday Train to town.
The train brought with it musicians Kelly Prescott, Jim Cuddy, and his son Devin Cuddy, who put on a great show for the crowd.
The train’s visit was a great success not only because it seemed to bring so much joy to kids and adults alike, but because midway through the performance Deb McIntosh from the Castlegar Community Harvest Food Bank, Mayor Lawrence Chernoff, and MLA Katrine Conroy were brought onstage to receive a cheque for $6,000 to the food bank.
McIntosh was very pleased with the support shown by the community.
“Tons of donations came in monetarily and grocery-wise,” she said. “It’s put us over the hump I think as far as what we needed to accomplish this year, so our first few months in the new year are going to look okay.”
In total the food bank received the $6,000 from Canadian Pacific (CP), $3,500 in monetary donations and four truckloads of food.
Presenting the cheque from the CP was Steve Sugars, manager of digital media at Canadian Pacific.
He said the Holiday Train has been a big success this year.
“The crowds have been amazing,” said Sugars. “They’ve been coming out and actually the donations have been exceeding what they’ve been expecting, so it’s been an amazing experience this year.”
Monday afternoon’s crowd in Castlegar is one of the biggest he’s seen so far.
“It’s huge,” said Sugars. “I couldn’t believe it when we pulled up and I just saw all these people waiting.”
The museum also raised a good amount of money selling hot dogs and hot chocolate to the happy and excited crowd.