LRT train transforms into festive pop-up dance party

WATCH: Rave takes over LRT train A group of artists turned an LRT train into an all-out rave Saturday night. CTV’s Tyler Kelaher explains.

On the eve of Christmas Eve, festive holiday music was drowned out by the sound of electronic dance beats for a pop-up rave on an LRT train.

One of the organizers of the light rail show on Saturday got the idea after seeing a video of a similar rave held on the SkyTrain in Vancouver.

“I saw it pop up on my Instagram feed and I’m like ‘OK we have to do this, this is way too cool. We have the ION, the ION’s perfect for this,” said organizer Janice Jim, speaking the day after the event.

Jim spread the word, getting around 50 close friends including a DJ to meet at Conestoga Station. The partiers then rode the entire ION route to Fairway then back again.

“We just got on, played some music, put on some lights, and did some dancing,” Jim said.

The event was not sanctioned by Grand River Transit (GRT). CTV News reached out the GRT for comment but did not hear back.

“Everyone was smiling and thought it was cool. The whole thing was not to disrupt regular riders and service,” Jim said.

The goal was to shine a brighter light on everything Waterloo Region has to offer.

“Kitchener-Waterloo has a lot of cool things happening,” Jim said. “Having cool events is part of building our branding and cultural capital so that younger people think ‘oh this is a great city, we want to stay here and we don’t have to go to Toronto.’ We are the smallest municipality in North America with an ION. Our ION moves 20,000 people a day and it’s something to be proud of.”

In the future, Janice hopes to collaborate with GRT to hold a fully-sanctioned rave on the LRT, with the cities and region involved.

“Everyone’s like ‘when is the next one?’ It would just be another cool event for people to associate K-W with.”