CP Holiday Train rolls in Oshawa, Bowmanville Friday

The magical CP Holiday train, its cars brightly lit for the festive season, is stopping in Oshawa and Bowmanville Friday and offering free concerts to raise awareness and support for local food banks.

Officially known as the Canadian Pacific Kansas City Holiday Train, the train will bring Christmas cheer to Bowmanville at 2 p.m. with the concert stop at Scugog Road and Wellington Street at the western edge of downtown. The tour then heads to Oshawa for a 3:15 p.m. stop at 680 Laval Drive.

Entertainment at the two stops will be handled by Tyler Shaw, a multi-platinum-selling artist, music producer and actor (with TikTok views of his songs registering in the billions) who has been nominated for four Junos and has performed for princes, prime ministers and presidents; and Shawnee Kish, a Mohawk singer-songwriter with a powerful soul voice and three Juno nominations of her own.

While the event is free to attend, visitors are encouraged to bring non-perishable food items or monetary donations to support local food banks. It’s a fun way to make a difference while soaking in the holiday vibes.

The Holiday Train will visit communities across the CPKC network in Canada and the U.S. in November and December – including 39 Ontario towns – raising food, money and awareness for local food banks and food pantry organizations.

Local food shelves will set up collection stations at each event, with all donations made staying with the local food bank to help people in need in the community. Because local food shelves buy food at a discount, cash donations can go further than food donations to help those in need.

Since the Holiday Train program launched in 1999, it has raised more than $22 million and collected five million-plus pounds of food for community food banks across North America. At the Oshawa stop in 2016 1,540 pounds of food and nearly $1,500 in cash was donated.