Get in the holiday spirit this year with a spectacular show of lights and music in Regina!

As part of the Canadian Pacific Holiday Train celebration, a train will pull into Regina on Dec. 17 at 6:30 p.m. decked out in thousands of lights. Canadian country musicians Kira Isabella and Doc Walker will perform from the train at the Mosaic Stadium parking lot to help support the Regina Food Bank.

Salem Woodrow, Holiday Train spokesperson, said this all started in 1999 with just a few boxcars on a train that reached only a handful of communities. Since then it has seen tremendous growth.

“Now 17 years later, it’s 14 brightly-decorated railcars travelling across Canada and the United States reaching over 150 communities, and in that time raising over $10.6 million and 3.6 million pounds of food,” she said.

If you’ve never seen the Holiday Train, you’re missing out!

“The Holiday Train is beautiful,” she said. “It’s beautifully decorated with hundreds of thousands of LED lights, it’s 1,000 feet in length, and you can literally see it from the sky in the night.”

Check it out this year, but be sure to be on time as the whole event will only last under an hour.

The train will pull into town at 6:20 p.m. with the show to follow soon after.  Kira Isabella and Doc Walker will take to the stage for about 30 minutes, performing holiday music as well as their own original songs.  Following that the doors will close and the Holiday Train will be off to another destination to others its bright lights and holiday spirit.

The other key piece to this spectacular event is the giving.  While in Regina, food and money will be raised for local food banks, during such a crucial time of year when food banks see a lot of usage.

“They need support and the Holiday Train program really puts the focus back on food banks and the important role they play in our community,” she said, adding guests are asked to bring heart-healthy donations.

TIP: You have a chance to win a ride on next year’s Holiday Train and have the company donate $1,000 to your local food bank through the CP Holiday Train ‘Capture the Spirit’ photo contest. Read more on the contest here.