You really haven’t experienced Chicago holiday magic until you’re waiting for the train and the CTA Holiday Train pulls up! Instead of seeing the plain, dirty metal of the train, all you can see is the lights and decorations covering it. Even if you’re running late to class, it’s definitely unexpected and will leave you in a good mood regardless.
The tradition of the Allstate CTA Holiday Train started in 1992. At this time, a “Season’s Greetings from the CTA” sign was put on an out-of-service train which was used to deliver food to different charities. Since then, the tradition has continued and amounted to a lot more decorations than just one sign. Today, thousands of lights are wrapped around the exterior of the bus. Inside of the train, there are plenty of bows, red and green overhead lighting and garlands. The hand poles are even decorated to look like candy canes! As if this wasn’t enough, the train features Santa’s elves who greet riders with actual candy canes! It is clear that the train emanates holiday spirit and excitement, I mean how can you not be excited when Santa is there with his sleigh and reindeer?! However, the train has another purpose. The Allstate CTA Holiday Train also delivers food baskets to several charities around the city. These baskets are assembled by employees who buy food for the baskets and donate their time to assemble them. The plan for the 2018 Allstate Holiday Train is to donate 500 food baskets, which all contain ingredients for a full meal, such as canned ham, macaroni and cheese, potatoes, green beans, corn, fruit cocktail, and even dessert.
How do you catch the Allstate CTA Holiday Train? Easy, just follow the train’s schedule! The first train begins spreading holiday cheer on November 23rd on the Green and Orange lines! It definitely needs to be on your holiday bucket list because it’s a great photo opportunity, has a charitable objective, and, above all else, has free candy canes!