Selkirk Grad Kiesza highlights CPKC Holiday Train stop
It was a festive night as the Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) Holiday Train paid a visit to the Heritage City, making a stop at the Rotary Lakeside Park rail crossing.
Crowds lined up on both sides of the rail tracks and on the Big Orange Bridge to catch a glimpse of the 1,000 foot long train with 14 brightly decorated rail cars. Each car is decorated with hundreds of thousands of technology-leading LED lights and holiday designs.
However, the crowd may have been surprised to see a former Selkirk College Music student provide some of the entertainment as Canadian singer-songwriter Kiesza burst onto the stage when the doors of the rail car opened.
Kiesza, who attended Nelson’s Tenth Street Campus in the late 2000’s from Calgary as an 18-year-old bursting with talent, did not disappoint the crowd with some festive music for the occasion.
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Crowds jammed the stage to listen to Kiesza at Wednesday’s CPKC Holiday Train stop at Rotary Lakeside Park in Nelson. — The Nelson Daily photo
After presenting Nelson Salvation Army with a donation, the Holiday Train entertainment continues with multi-platinum-selling artist, music producer and actor Travis Shaw.
Honing her craft in the studios at Nelson’s Tenth Street Campus, she graduated in 2009 and continued her music studies at Berklee College of Music in Boston.
Everything raised in each community stays in that community, and CPKC additionally makes donations at each stop.
Since its inception in 1999, the CPKC Holiday Train has raised more than $22.5 million and more than 5 million pounds of food for community food banks across North America.
CPKC Holiday Train has made stops in Nelson 2019, 2017, as well as 2015, 2013 and 2011.
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Spectators surrounded the CPKC Holiday Train Wednesday at Rotary Lakeside Park. — The Nelson Daily photo