Rock and “rail” is alive and well on the Canadian prairies. The CPKC Holiday Train and the community of Wynyard and area gave proof on Tuesday night as the festival freight made its way across the province.  

The only thing that was disproven was the classic Sam Roberts lyric, “them kids don’t know how to dance to rock and roll,” as dozens and dozens of youngsters busted out the moves alongside their elders. Roberts and his musical cohorts, Anyway Gang, had the hundreds of railside revellers rocking on an uncharacteristically warm Saskatchewan December evening. 

Anyway Gang is a Canadian supergroup composed of the aforementioned Sam Roberts, Menno Versteeg of Hollerado, Chris Murphy from east coast band Sloan, and Dave Monks from Tokyo Police Club. The indie group cranked out a good half hour of original tunes, classics from their respective catalogues and of course, a bevy of yuletide favourites.  

The Gang warmed up the audience with ‘Big Night,” their highest charting hit to date. Roberts teased the kids by mispronouncing the names of virtually every reindeer in Santa’s stable before launching into the singalong “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” 

“We’re All in This Together,” another Sam Roberts Band classic, made the set list. So did Feliz Navidad when Versteeg hit the ground armed with a microphone for kids to be part of the vocal show. 

Before boarding and pulling out west to Saskatoon, a representative from CPKC called on Wynyard Deputy Mayor Jason Bartoshewski to accept a check for $5500 to the Wynyard and District Food Bank. 

“Thank you to CPKC for coming,” said Bartoshewski from the stage. “This has always been something to look forward to, the train coming through town. The weather is nice – usually when the train shows up it’s minus 40. Thanks again for coming.” 

Volunteers accepted non-perishable donations for the Wynyard and District Food Bank, while others canvassed the crowd for cash donations. CPKC and the Holiday Train work with local and national food bank organizations to tackle food insecurities. Other trains are crisscrossing the continent with a similar mission – supporting food banks and delivering top quality entertainment to communities large and small – by rail.