Crowds listen to carols as the CP Rail Holiday Train stops in Medicine Hat in December 2019. The event will return on Wednesday after two-year hiatus.--News File Photo
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Santa Claus is coming to town this week, and for the first time since 2019, he’ll be riding the rails.
The Canadian Pacific Holiday Train will arrive at the Medicine Hat marshalling yard on Wednesday at about 3 p.m. for a musical show and food bank fundraiser that concludes at about 3:45 p.m.
The event, which has drawn large crowds to N. Railway Street in years past, was held virtually in 2021 but returns to an in-person event this year.
It was in Regina and eastern Saskatchewan on Monday for performances by Tenille Townes and Aysanabee.
The train was scheduled to head west on Tuesday for stops in Moose Jaw and Swift Current (starting at 8:15 p.m. local time).
The train will arrive in Medicine Hat in the afternoon Wednesday, following a 1:45 p.m. performance in Maple Creek.
After departing Medicine Hat, stops are planned in Tilley (5:15 p.m.) Brooks (6:40 p.m.) and Gleichen (8:35 p.m.).
Hat-born singer MacKenzie Porter will join the tour at Cochrane on Dec. 13.
A total of 168 shows will take place on the 2022 tour, including stops along the railway’s routes in Canada and the Untied States.
Over 24 years the event has raised $21 million to be distributed to local food banks, and five million pounds of food.
The Canadian leg of the journey began at Montreal on Nov. 22, and will conclude at Port Coquitlam, B.C. on Dec. 18.
