Return of the Stanley Park train sees Bright Lights event sell out quickly

Tickets for the Stanley Park mini-train's first event in more than a year sold out quickly on Thursday, the Vancouver Park Board said. 

There was "tremendous interest" with 23,000 tickets for the Bright Nights holiday event snapped up within 90 minutes of going on sale, the board said in a statement. 

The festive event, a fundraiser for the B.C. Professional Fire Fighters' Burn Fund, features a 15-minute vintage train ride through the forest, which will be lit up for the season. 

"We appreciate the tremendous interest in the train," the board said in the statement. "We share in the collective disappointment that not everyone was able to secure tickets, and we will be reviewing our ticketing process going forward."

The volunteer-run event, scheduled for Nov. 30  to Jan. 1, from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. raises money to support burn survivors across the province. 

Jeff Sauvé, the fund's executive director, said only one locomotive is running this year. 

"There is limited capacity and I'm not surprised on one level that the tickets sold out so quickly."

Sauvé said the event is the largest annual fundraiser for the fund, which is supported and largely run by professional firefighters. 

People who didn't get train tickets are still welcome to come to Stanley Park to enjoy the lights display, Santa's workshop and nightly live music, he said. The event is free and donations are welcome.

The Stanley Park train has always been popular, but during the past few years it's been cancelled due to problems such as the the COVID-19 pandemic, a rash of coyote attacks and mechanical issues.

Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim said Monday that the return of the train to operational status was possible due to contributions made by several groups including the Beedie Foundation, the Peter and Joanne Brown Foundation and the Diamond Foundation.

Sim said the return of the train signalled his commitment to bring "swagger" back to the city.