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Michigan's Holiday Enchantments

© Chris Pittman

While Michigan's rich landscape and varying climate offer its citizens full exposure to the essence of each of the four seasons, it’s the spirit of the Michigan people that make the state such an attraction. The holiday season is no exception. Michigan provides the crisp weather and enchanting blankets of snow and the Michiganders add lights, song and festivals to capture the enchantment of the season.

Michigan’s affair with the Winter Holidays are perhaps best demonstrated by the existence of the very real city of Christmas, Michigan. Located just four miles from Munising on the southern shore of Lake Superior, the town was named by Julius Thorson in 1938 when he plotted the land and erected a toy factory to manufacture gifts for the holiday season. Today, locals welcome year-round visitors to their spirited hamlet.

A slightly more extravagant holiday attraction resides a few hundred miles south of Christmas in the Lower Peninsula city of Frankenmuth, Michigan. Bronners Christmas Wonderland has been fulfilling Christmas dreams year-round since its founding by Wally Bronner in 1945. As the largest Christmas store in the world, its the size of four football fields and plays host to the visitations of more than two million travelers a year. Shoppers are entranced as much by the magical holiday displays as the enormous selection of gifts, ornaments and decorations from around the world.

But Bronners is not alone in its presentation of multi-cultural Christmas celebrations. The popular Dutch city of Holland, Michigan holds an annual Dutch Winterfest, where visitors are welcomed to stroll the warmed cobblestone streets, enjoy luminous holiday scenery and share in the unique Dutch traditions. Elsewhere, in Grand Rapids, Frederik Meijer Gardens presents its annual Christmas Around the World and Holiday Traditions. Cultural traditions from around the world are displayed in beautiful exhibits along with an unequalled collection of Christmas Trees.

If it's the spirit of Christmas past you seek, there's no place like Michigan! Five distinctly nostlagic locales offer seekers a healthy dose of holiday joy, historical perspective and unlimited shopping.

Flint, Michigan invites yearly tourists to explore the enchanting nineteenth century streets of Crossroads Village and Huckleberry Railroad where five-hundred thousand lights adorn the village streets and homes. Visitors are invited aboard the authentic locomotive, garlanded in its own festive lights. Others choose simply to stroll the streets as costumed villagers go about their holiday chores.

Likewise, Lake Orion's Canterbury Village offers similar old-world landscapes. The designated historical site developed by Stan Aldridge extends over twenty-one acres in an impressive display of antiques and architecture from around the world. Villagers transform their streets and dwellings each year into a breathtaking display of lights and festive decore.

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