The annual Holiday Train is scheduled to stop in Minot at 6:30 p.m. at the Main Street railroad crossing.

People can join CP there to celebrate the holiday season with the train’s musical guests Meghan Patrick, Tanika Charles and Kelly Prescott.

A local Santa Claus will also be there to celebrate the train’s visit.

Donations of cash or healthy food will be accepted to support local communities in need. Monetary donations will go to the Minot Area Homeless Coalition and food donations to Our Lady of Grace Food Pantry.

Submitted Photo The brightly lighted Canadian Pacific Holiday Train makes a stop at a community along its route. The train will be arriving in Minot and also make stops at three other area communities on Sunday.

Since 1999, the Holiday Train has raised more than $15.8 million (Canadian dollar) and 4 1/2 million pounds of food for North American food banks. Everything raised in a community stays in that community and in addition, CP makes a donation at each stop.

The number of people attending the train’s stop in Minot depends on the weather, said Louis “Mac” McLeod, executive director of the Minot Area Homeless Coalition. He said that last year 3,000 people attended the event.

Besides Minot, the train will make three other area stops:

® Carrington Rail Depot, 601 6th Avenue NE, at 1:45 p.m.

® Harvey at 600 Lincoln Avenue at 4 p.m.

® Kenmare at 1st Avenue SW and Central Avenue, east side of railroad tracks, at 8:45 p.m.

The train will also make North Dakota stops in Hankinson and Enderlin on Saturday.

The U.S. train left Montreal on Nov. 25, making numerous stops along the way west. Entertainers Patrick, Charles and Prescott picked up the tour in Chicago. They will finish the train’s journey back to Canada with the final show in Gleichen, Alberta, on Dec. 18.

Another train follows a route across Canada.

Each Holiday Train is about 1,000 feet in length with 14 brightly decorated rail cars. The cars are decorated with hundreds of thousands of technology-leading LED lights and holiday designs celebrating the spirit of the giving season. Built in 1957, two GP2OC 2200 series locomotives were rebuilt in 2013 to pull CP’s two Holiday Trains. Each locomotive has 2000 hp, is 56.02 feet in length and weighs 275,000 pounds, according to CP information.

As a Canadian company that operates in Canada and the U.S., CP is proud to display the flags of both countries on the Holiday Train as they travel across the CP network to raise food and funds to help stop hunger in communities.

The Holiday Train events are free. CP only asks that those attending bring food or a monetary donation to be collected.

Those attending a stop of the Holiday Train are asked to keep a safe distance away from the train so it can safely continue its journey. CP does not allow any drone flights over its private property, including at Holiday Train events.

For more about the Holiday Train, visit cpr.ca/holiday-train. The website includes a a list of healthy foods suggested for food donations at the train’s stops.