Promotions committee outlines holiday events; public urges fewer weekday street closures

Kate, the promotions committee lead, briefed the board on a packed holiday calendar: Shop & Stroll and the Towntrek scavenger hunt on Nov. 15; third Thursday (Nov. 20) with live music but no street closure; Small Business Saturday on Nov. 29; First Friday on Dec. 5 with food trucks and a mini-horse petting area; and a holiday open-house market Dec. 12–13 in a heated tent with roughly 16 vendor slots.

Michelle (city staff) described safety-driven changes to the COMSAC parade: staging at the Lenawee County Courthouse, a 6 p.m. step-off down Main to Church and a loop back up Winter Street, and a later 8 p.m. tree lighting at the courthouse area so families aren't waiting in the park in freezing temperatures. Santa will be at the gazebo at 8 p.m. for pictures.

Public commenters proposed changes and raised concerns. Rob Trevino urged consolidating promotional efforts into a single strong First Friday rather than several smaller weekday events and suggested more family-oriented programming and weekend scheduling. "Stop closing the streets," he said in urging reconsideration of closures that he and others said can hurt businesses by removing customer parking.

Zoom commenter Kelly Castleberry, a downtown building owner, asked the DDA to "lift more specifics on how money is being spent" and warned that weekday street closures "make it more difficult for people, that need more accessibility to get into our building." Board members acknowledged volunteer and vendor interest and said staff will work with committees to balance costs, accessibility and event impact.

The board set no new policy at the meeting but will finalize vendor selections and event scheduling in upcoming committee meetings.