Birmingham Prepares For Busy Holiday Season

BIRMINGHAM, MI — Temperatures are getting colder and the holiday season is near, which means Birmingham’s Department of Public Services (DPS) team is prepared for the arrival of winter and the much anticipated holiday tree lighting on Dec. 1, 2017 at 6:00 p.m. in conjunction with the opening of the Birmingham Winter Market.

The City’s salt dome is ready with approximately 3,250 tons of salt. An impressive fleet of equipment consists of six plow/salt trucks for the roads, plus small pickup trucks equipped to plow and salt parking structures, dead ends and other tight areas.

“We are proud of our anti-icing and pre-wetting salt methods using brine. We have been practicing this for several years with great success,” said Lauren Wood, Birmingham’s Director of Public Services. “Our goal is to use the least amount of salt with the maximum effect for safe winter travel.”

Meanwhile, DPS crews are busy decorating approximately 370 trees in the downtown area. Each tree is adorned with 30 strands of lights with 70 lights per strand, making a total of 777,000 LED lights in downtown Birmingham for the public to enjoy this holiday season. In addition, the City’s 35-foot blue spruce holiday tree will feature more than 22,000 LED lights and will light up downtown on Dec. 1, 2017 at 6:00 p.m. in conjunction with the opening of the Birmingham Winter Market.

When the snow flies and the holidays are upon us, the City is ready to welcome the community with safe roads for traveling and a picturesque downtown aglow for the holiday season.

Photo courtesy of the city of Birmingham