For the past 26 years, the BC Professional Fire Fighters Burn Fund has held a fundraiser in Stanley Park alongside the Bright Nights Christmas Train.
“This is the first year that it won’t operate with the train in Stanley Park,” Jeff Sauvé, executive director of the Burn Fund, told Global News.
On Tuesday, the Vancouver Park Board announced that the Stanley Park train will remain out of operation for the rest of 2025 due to extensive and costly repairs needed.
Sauvé said that while they had an inkling that the train would be unlikely to run this year, they found out on Tuesday along with everybody else.
He added that the annual fundraiser makes up a big part of their budget for the year.
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“But now it’s about pivoting and finding a solution,” Sauvé said.
At its peak, he said the Bright Nights at Stanley Park fundraiser, where thousands of lights are strung up around the mini train station and people riding the train make a donation to the park, raised up to half a million dollars. They also received a percentage from the train sales.
About 800 firefighters spend about a month putting up all the lights and displays.
“Last year it was about half of what our traditional fundraising would be,” Sauvé said, totalling about $200,000.
The Stanley Park Christmas Train did run at the beginning of last season but it was halted on Dec. 13 after one of the train’s engineers became sick due to exhaust fumes from one of the locomotives.
Sauvé said they are sure one of their partners will step up and they will figure out another fundraising venture.
“At this point, there hasn’t been any discussion of what the future of the train will look like,” he added.
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