Holiday Train will chug into Marquette Dec. 8

The Canadian Pacific Holiday Train will once again bring its festive display of lights and live music to Marquette next weekend, when it stops at the marina parking lot on Sunday, Dec. 8, at 2:45 p.m. 

Now in its 21st year, the Holiday Train is decorated with hundreds of thousands of lights depicting holiday scenes on 14 rail cars, one of which turns into a stage for musical performances.

Entertainment will include Canadian country artists Meghan Patrick and Kelly Prescott, as well as R&B singer Tanika Charles, who will all perform a mix of classic and modern holiday tunes. Santa Claus will also make an appearance. The show will last approximately a half hour, from 3 to 3:30 p.m.

The Holiday Train is about more than dazzling lights and music, however. Attendees are encouraged to bring non-perishable food items or a monetary donation as admission. Suggested items include peanut butter, tuna, canned fruit, cereal, personal care products, soap and toilet paper.

Volunteers will collect the items for the Clayton County Food Shelf. Paired with a generous donation from Canadian Pacific, that makes the Holiday Train stop one of the food shelf’s largest donation campaigns. Last year, stops in Guttenberg and Marquette netted the food shelf $11,053.99 and 2,935 pounds of food.

The Holiday Train is in high demand, and stops change year to year. Although it will make seven other stops in Iowa in 2019, Marquette will be the Holiday Train’s only visit to Clayton County. As a result, Clayton County Food Shelf Director Utoni Ruff said it’s important for community members to turn out and show their support, so the train continues to come back.

Other Iowa Holiday Train stops include: Friday, Dec. 6 - Mason City at 7:45 p.m.; Saturday, Dec. 7 - Charles City at 8:30 a.m., Ossian at 10:30 a.m., Clinton at 6:40 p.m. and Davenport at 9 p.m.; Sunday, Dec. 8 - Lansing at 4:50 p.m. and New Albin at 6:15 p.m.