If awards were given for best costumes among the hundreds who welcomed the Canadian Pacific Kansas City Holiday Train to Franklin Park last week, the Martin family from Des Plaines would easily win.
Mother Maggie, 39, father Andy, 43, and twins Mikey and Mary Kate, both 7, wore bright blinking and eye-catching Christmas lights atop their winter jackets and hats as they waited for the train to arrive Nov. 26.
“The Dollar Store,” Maggie, 39, said when asked where she found the dazzling décor that set her back just $4.
The family was impressed by the brightly lit train cars, and enjoyed live music by American Authors and KT Tunstall. Both performed from inside a train car with a side opened to reveal a great view of the stage.
The decorated train’s goal is to raise money and food for those in need as it made 167 stops across America and Canada, a spokesman said.
“It’s a lot of fun. The lights. The train. Very festive,” Andy Martin said.
The concert was well received.
“It was really good. This is our third year seeing it. It was in Bensenville before and I’d say this one was the best one we’ve seen. They sounded great. They sang a lot of holiday songs,” Maggie Martin said.
“And ‘Best Day of My Life.’ I love that song,” Mikey Martin chimed in about the American Authors hit.
The Holiday Train is a tradition that dates back to 1999.
“The company wanted to give back to the communities where it operates,” spokesman Terry Cunha said.
Since it began, the holiday train has raised more than $24.3 million along with 5.3 million pounds of food for community food banks, Cunha said.
“We team up with a local organization at each one of our stops to help address food insecurity in the holiday season,” Cunha said.
In Franklin Park, the local organization was the Leyden Community Food Pantry.
Leyden Township Supervisor Rocco Biscaglio was presented with a $10,000 check for the food pantry from the train company.
The money will be used to buy food to distribute to those in need, said Biscaglio who also appreciated the generosity of concert-goers.
“People who attended the event, a lot of them brought canned goods and dry goods. We unloaded off the truck this morning several hundred pounds of product that was donated,” Biscaglio said the day afterward.
“We have a lot of generous people who support this food pantry,” he added.
The food pantry is in the Leyden Township Town Hall, 2501 N. Mannheim Road, Franklin Park.
“We serve a couple hundred people every week. Our total enrollment is around 900 and people are allowed to visit the food pantry up to two times a month,” Biscaglio said.
The weather kind of fit the script. It felt like Christmas, with temperatures hitting 36 degrees at 7 p.m. when the band started.
Many in the crowd were dressed for the chill, but at least one hardy Chicago resident didn’t mind.
“It’s not that bad. It’s not raining. It’s alright,” said Heather Kristen, whose jacket was open.
She brought her mother Linda Sac and daughters, Char, 10, and Liv, 12.
The family enjoyed the band although Linda said “it was hard finding parking.”
“Tis the season,” Heather said with a shrug.
The girls said they were having a good time. Liv held Oreo, their year-old pet dog, in her arms.
It was a good end to a busy day, Linda said.
“We had dinner in the car. We went to see ‘Wicked’ then we picked (Oreo) up, ate and came here,” Linda said.
For Stacey Obrzut, 34, it was all about the music.
“I grew up listening to them. They are good, very good. I hadn’t seen them before,” Stacey said of American Authors.
Obrzut attended with parents Dana and Jerry.
The River Grove family had been in Grayslake earlier that day and stopped at a store to buy food items to donate.
“It’s awesome. Brings a lot of people out,” Stacey said of the Holiday Train.
The Holiday Train returns to the Chicago area at 5:15 p.m. Dec. 7 at 4460 Old Grand Avenue in Gurnee. The Lone Bellow and Tiera Kennedy are scheduled to perform.
Steve Metsch is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
