RAFFLE PRIZE - Lionel Polar Express Train Set!

Again this year, we'll be selling raffle tickets to raise money for next year's garden.  This year, we've got a great prize for the model train lovers out there.  An O Gauge Lionel Polar Express Train Set from M.B. Klein in Cockeysville, complete with transformer, track and all of the accessories.  Here's a link to a description of the train.  Tickets are $1 each, 6 for $5.  You can buy them from the volunteers at the table as you leave the garden.  The drawing will be on January 1st and the lucky winner will have a great train running under their tree next Christmas.  Thanks to Panera Bread in Brewers Hill, there will be a second prize this year.  A gift certificate for a loaf of bread each month for the next year.  If you've tried their breads, you know what a treat this will be.  So.... buy those raffle tickets!

If you missed the train, you can catch it next year

The numbers are in and there is no question that the first year of the Highlandtown Train Garden was a success!

• 4 dedicated community volunteers built the garden over hundreds of hours
• 22 local sponsors gave money and in-kind contributions
• 25 additional volunteers decorated the firehouse and greeted visitors
• 9 families donated photos of their family train gardens for our slide show
• The garden opened to the public for 62 hours (in all types of weather)
• 4 engines ran on 110 feet of track past more than 100 tiny people in the recreated streets of Highlandtown
• 1,371 visitors of all ages with smiles on their faces witnessed it all.

Here are some of their comments from our guest book...

Wonderful! Fantastic! Spectacular! Great job! So much fun! Very cool! Fabulous! Terrific! About time! Keep it going! Magical! Loved the decorations! Neat train garden! Loved the local stuff! Awesome! Great fun for kids and adults! Wow! One of the best we've seen! Dynamite! We love it! Great for the neighborhood, please keep it going! Can't wait till next year! Love seeing this in the neighborhood! It's nice to bring something great to Highlandtown! Breathtaking!

And the comment writeen more than any other (with a varying number of exclamation points following it) was.. THANK YOU! THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!!! THANK YOU!!!!

Thanks to CSX. The Southeast Community Development Corporation, all of our community sponsors, our gracious hosts at Engine Co. 41, the volunteer engineers, greeters and decorators and to all the visitors. See you next year!

The Highlandtown Train Garden Committee