Preparations underway before annual Christmas tree lighting in downtown Detroit
(CBS DETROIT) - Downtown Detroit is about to get a lot brighter, just in time for the Christmas season.
"The countdown is officially on here at Campus Martius Park," Laura Dean, director of Parks and Public Spaces at Downtown Detroit Partnership.
It's almost the most wonderful time of the year for Detroit, especially with a tree standing 66 feet tall. It made its way to Motown via the City of Manton, Michigan.
"We found it in August, and we cut it down yesterday on private property, and it was donated to us to serve as our centerpiece this year," Dean said.
The Norway Spruce sits high for all to see. Over the next two weeks, a process will begin, to get it all dressed up. It takes 10 people to make it happen.
"Twenty-five thousand LED lights that go on here, and sparkling bulbs that light up," Dean said. "We start wrapping our trees at the end of August, and it takes until about tree lightning day for everything to finish."
The city is getting ready, from Cadillac Square to the ice skating rink. But this year, the Downtown Detroit Partnership is adding a new attraction called Chalet 313 to the park.
"There will be a bar and light appetizers served there, you will basically be able to go into the structure, go upstairs, and then look into the tree," Dean said.
An estimated 100,000 people will show up for the tree lighting.
CBS News Detroit learned that the tree has a few bald spots, so teams will climb in to fill the gaps before it's time.
"These are cut from the bottom of a tree, and they just help fill in where maybe we aren't looking the best," Dean said.
The 21st tree lighting is on Nov. 22 in the heart of Downtown Detroit at Campus Martius Park.
