Businesses in downtown Ferndale are celebrating the holidays and hoping to put some muscle in their sales by throwing an ice festival that showcases super heroes.
More than 50 ice sculptures will be on display outside of businesses throughout downtown for
The Holiday Ice Festival Saturday, Dec. 14, and visitors can go to the North Pole at Schiffer Park on W. 9 Mile and meet reindeer, have hot chocolate, write letters to soldiers and more.
Santa will start the festival at 10 a.m. with an appearance on a fire engine and have lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings. A heated trolley will ferry riders to and from shops and restaurants throughout the day. There will ice carving demonstrations, carolers, pictures with Santa, and running at the same time as the festival will be the Saucy Social & Food Truck Rally on Vester Street.
Besides giving visitors a fun holiday outing, the festival is meant to stoke business activity by pulling in customers with holiday shopping lists, says Cristina Sheppard-Decius, executive director of the Ferndale Downtown Development Authority.
Source: Chris Hughes, Ferndale Downtown Development Authority
Writer: Kim North Shine
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