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The Holiday Train’s a comin’

Have you made plans to greet the CP Holiday Train on Monday morning?

Dec.5 at about 10:15 the red train with Canadian and American flags flying will roll to a stop in Virden across the street from Tundra Oil and Gas Place.

The train has stopped in Virden many times, usually every second year, and virtually in 2020. Now it’s back for real.

A couple of very classy entertainers will play on the CP Holiday Train stage. The concert is free, with CP encouraging attendees to open their cupboards and wallets to help address hunger needs in their communities. Donations to the Virden Food Cupboard are appreciated. That morning, look for a half-ton parked near the site along Fifth Ave. It’s going to be ready to receive food donations. Food Cupboard President Myrna Bisson and Secretary-treasurer Shirley Gibson will be on hand to receive monetary donations as well.

Showtime is 10:30–11:00 a.m. While we’re expecting nice weather, dress for the North Pole so you can forget about the cold and enjoy this spirited occasion.

The train stage door will open and Tenille Townes and Aysanbee, two Canadian born performers, will entertain.

Born in Grande Prairie, Alberta, singer-songwriter Tenille Townes earned accolades for her wise-beyond-her-years ballads before she moved to Nashville in 2013. Her discography includes two EP releases featuring her strikingly beautiful voice as she performs songs dear to her heart. With beautiful guitar backing, her acoustic EP, “Living Room Worktapes” was her first.

In February 2020 a new EP, “Road to the Lemonade Stand” was released. Here, she reached new depths in her music while forging a deeper connection with her listeners. The Lemonade Stand offers levity, too, in pop-country confection with “Holding Out For the One” or the romantic dance of “The Way You Look Tonight.” The album closer, “The Most Beautiful Things,” strikes an uplifting balance between light and dark, the weight of the world and the promise of hope.

Aysanabee is a multi-instrumentalist, producer and singer songwriter currently based in Toronto. He is Oji-Cree, Sucker Clan of the Sandy Lake First Nation a remote fly-in community in the far reaches of Northwestern Ontario.

He began creating music under his mother’s maiden name during the pandemic when the stillness allowed him to slow down and create music, he says, more directly represents himself as an artist.

Solemn and soaring, backed by a swirling blend of indie, soul and electronic soundscapes, mournful saxophone and pulse-quickening finger-picking, Aysanabee’s striking sound is equal parts hypnotic and melodic which has been compared to Bon Iver, Matt Corby, Don Ross, Kim Churchill, Kings of Leon and Sam Smith.

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The CP Holiday Train is about 1,000 feet in length with 14 rail cars decorated with hundreds of thousands of technology-leading LED lights and a modified boxcar that has been turned into a traveling stage for performers. The Canadian Pacific (CP) Holiday Train program is returning to the rails to raise money, food, and awareness for food banks and hunger issues across Canada and the United States.

Beginning in Montreal, two trains will make the festive journey, travelling through both the U.S. and Canada to bring holiday cheer to many communities along CP’s network. Local food banks will be accepting donations at each stop to ensure those less fortunate have enough healthy food this holiday season.

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