CP Holiday Train stop benefits communities
By Brad Everett Times Contributor
Brad Everett Photo
“We did it! We got the Holiday Train!” exclaimed Sandra Sparvier, to an enthusiastic crowd who braved the cold weather to greet the train.
The evening saw a donation for $4,000 from CP for the Wheatland County and Siksika Nation’s food banks, as well as $875 and 1,350 lbs of food given by the attendees, which was split equally between the two organizations.
“I was overwhelmed,” said Sparvier, health promotions liaison with Siksika Health Services. “It was so great to have both communities come together for a family event like this.”
Siksika Nation and Gleichen worked together to put on a community event to coincide with the train’s stop, including musical entertainment, vendors and food offerings in the Gleichen hall and outside, an exhibition of Native dancing and drumming, and kids activities including a visit from Santa Claus. Organizers prepared hot chocolate, stew and biscuits for 1,000, which quickly ran out.
The Holiday Train concert featured Canadian country music artists Terri Clark, Kelly Prescott and Sierra Noble, who played for 30 minutes and then agreed to the audience’s request for an encore before calling it a night.
Sparvier worked on getting the CP Holiday Train to make a stop there for over a year. In 2017, after her request for the train to make a stop was denied, the Holiday Train did agree to slow down to give those gathered along the tracks a better look at the lights. In August of this year she received an email saying Siksika Nation was a scheduled stop for the Holiday Train’s 20th anniversary trip.
There was a bit of a problem though, as the ground on the Siksika Nation side of the tracks was uneven and swampy – completely unsuitable for a crowd of any size. So Sparvier made some phone calls to see if Gleichen would be interested in helping out in hosting the train’s stop on their side of the tracks. A positive response from Gleichen and Wheatland County set the wheels in motion for Friday night’s celebration.
“Given the positive comments I received from CP afterwards, I hope we can do this again next year,” Sparvier said.