Saline lit up the holiday season with enchanting luminaries, stunning downtown lights, and heartfelt resolutions for the new year.

Saline Holiday Lights photo by Sue Kelch

The lights of the holiday season are a welcome relief from the long, dark, and cold winter nights.  Between the luminaries of Christmas Eve on N. Ann Arbor Street and the downtown lights, Saline shines bright as residents prepare to begin a new year.

Christmas Eve Luminaries

Every Christmas Eve, N. Ann Arbor Street homes from Bennett to Russell Street put out luminaries.  Jim and Cheryl Hoeft helped start this annual Christmas Eve luminary display 27 years ago.  Cheryl explains, “It started as a neighborhood tradition for the children who grew up on the street.  We constructed and distributed over 250 bags of sand and a 10-hour candle in each.”  

“So now, every Sunday before Christmas, about 10-15 families in Saline’s Historical District convene to prepare the bags.  At 4 pm Christmas Eve, the bags are distributed and spaced evenly along the street to provide enjoyment for all who drive by.  Then, very early Christmas morning, two ‘special elves’ clean everything up.”

Even Nick Claus appreciates Saline’s luminaires.  I rang him up after all his deliveries on Christmas Eve, and he cheerfully exclaimed, “I always enjoy the luminaries in Saline.  They help light the way for my reindeer, like a runway.”  Nick also commented on the letters he receives from Saline children.  “It’s so nice that Saline puts out a mailbox for the children.  I can’t give out the secret as to how the letters make it to the North Pole.  Suffice it to say they do, and I reply to everyone.  Ho-ho-ho!”

Downtown Holiday Lights

This holiday season, the heart of Saline is aglow with festive lights thanks to Saline Main Street and a grant from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC). This ‘Main Street Vibrancy Grant’ was awarded earlier this year to nine communities throughout the state. 

A local company called ‘Delights,’ known for its expertise in holiday displays, installed a stunning array of decorations throughout downtown, including red and white lighted wreaths with bows, white lights wrapped around streetlights, and sparkling lights adorning trees at the intersection of Michigan Avenue and Ann Arbor Street. 

Mary Dettling, Saline Main Street Director, commented, “Thanks to the team at MEDC for awarding this grant to allow Saline Main Street to move forward with a professional holiday light display. We are grateful to Amy and Jason Miller for their generous donation of holiday lights over the past few years. Their support has helped create a beautiful tradition in our community, and we are thrilled to now showcase a professionally installed light display.” “Saline Main Street is committed to making the lights an annual tradition and hopes to partner with the City of Saline to bring them back every year.” 

New Year’s Resolutions

Eventually, the holiday lights come down, signaling that warmer weather and longer days will soon come.  As we look forward to the new year, I asked a few people highlighted in 2024 in the Sun Times News for their New Year’s resolutions.  Here they are:

William Rogers, Junior Homemaker of the Year Awardee:  “I want to try to improve on all of my projects and be more efficient on getting things done.  I’d like to be productive  with FFA projects and tractors and work with my animals.”

With her husband Steve, Deb Elmore flew an honor banner for their veteran son:  “I don’t make resolutions for the year ahead, but rather think about the goals and tasks on my lists.  I try to prioritize and strive for continuous improvement.  I don’t always succeed!  So, I don’t make hard and fast resolutions because I know I will abandon them immediately.  My recent goals include jettisoning lots of stuff from our house, praying more often and better, and improving my fitness.  And oh yeah, I am planning – as I do every year – to manage my vegetable garden well.”

Kim Kaster, winner of the Saline Chamber of Commerce Visionary Award and owner of Brewed Awakenings, which received the Best Local Coffee Shop award: “Make the world a little happier by volunteering at least once per week, giving a compliment at least once per day and doing random kind acts at least once per month.”

“I feel sometimes my unhappiness comes from the unhappiness that is out in the world; I am hoping that spreading happiness will make me feel happiness.”

Zach Kaster, whose efforts provided pedestrian safety with an illuminated crosswalk, has a different kind of resolution – actually perhaps more of a resolve.  Kim Kaster, Zach’s mom, puts it this way: “I am not sure if Zach understands what a resolution is – he lives fully each day and loves life.”

And that is the best resolution anyone can make.  Happy New Year.

For more information about Saline Main Street visit www.salinemainstreet.org or contact Mary Dettling, Executive Director of Saline Main Street at (734) 717-7406.

To reach Nick Claus, I can’t give out his phone number for security reasons.  So be sure to place a letter in Santa’s Mailbox next year.  He’ll reply!