In November 2021, the displays around Loranger Square were a large Santa Claus head, a snowflake, several reindeer, ornaments and an angel, as The Monroe News reported from that year's tree lighting. That was the first year of the city's Hometown Holiday Lights program. Everything since has been added to it.
That's the best way to read Friday, Nov. 20. The tree lighting is a holiday party, and it's also the one night each year when downtown Monroe shows off the newest pieces of a light collection that local businesses have paid for one piece at a time. This year's pieces are set to reach well past the square.
A Collection Built One Piece a Year
The City of Monroe runs Hometown Holiday Lights with support from the Downtown Development Authority. Local businesses and corporations fund the displays. The city calls it a multi-year public/private campaign that adds lighting elements every year and unveils them at the Holiday Tree Lighting.
Here's how it has grown:
- 2021: The program started in the Downtown Central Business District. The Santa head, snowflake, reindeer, ornaments and angel went up in and around Loranger Square.
- 2022: New lighted sculptures arrived downtown in time for that year's tree lighting, according to The Monroe News.
- 2025: An animated sleigh and a locally built Santa House were among the new attractions at the Nov. 21, 2025 event, The Monroe News reported.
The city's plans have also aimed the program away from the square. Its 2025 sponsor brochure called for an animated Santa sleigh on the Martin Luther King Jr. Pedestrian Bridge and new light-pole lighting on Monroe Street between Third and Seventh streets. Each year the program has gotten bigger and spread farther from where it started.
The 2026 Additions Go Out Into the Streets
The city is calling 2026 "a new chapter" for Hometown Holiday Lights. The focus this year is on "immersive, streetscape-level enhancements throughout Downtown," according to the Hometown Holiday Lights page. The city lists four kinds of additions:
- Fiberglass sculptures
- Overhead skyline garlands
- Some sledding penguins
- Patriotic décor ahead of America 250
The skyline garlands are the biggest change. A sculpture sits where it's placed. Garlands strung overhead light up the street itself, and you notice them on a regular trip downtown, not just at the square. The city says the goal is a "layered, high-impact visual experience that is engaging both day and night." It also names the everyday reasons people come downtown: an evening in the Downtown Social District, an event, holiday shopping, or time with family and friends.
The patriotic décor for America 250 gives this season a theme of its own, separate from the Christmas pieces of earlier years. If you'd like to see the plans before the unveiling, the city has posted a 2026 Sponsor Brochure.
Who Pays for It, and Why the Names Stay Up
The program runs on sponsorships, and the tiers are posted publicly. Local tiers are for small businesses and individuals. Corporate tiers are for larger organizations and bigger display pieces.
| Tier | Level | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Gingerbread | Local | $500 |
| Sugar Plum | Local | $1,000 |
| Candy Cane | Local | $1,500 |
| North Pole | Corporate | $2,000 |
| Reindeer | Corporate | $5,000 |
| Santa | Corporate | $10,000 |
The city also accepts in-kind contributions of materials or services at both levels. Every sponsor gets its branding on seasonal sponsorship signage, and that signage stays on display for five years. Corporate sponsors are also recognized out loud at the Tree Lighting ceremony when their display is unveiled. A sponsor's name stays up for five seasons, and the city plans to add new lighting elements every year, so each year's sponsors get credited next to the ones who came before them.
Some of the same names keep coming back. The city's sponsor roster from the 2021 launch lists La-Z-Boy, KC Logistics, Ventower, Gerdau and First Merchants. Four years later, La-Z-Boy was a Reindeer Tier sponsor alongside Michigan Gas Utilities and the DTE Foundation. KC Logistics and First Merchants Bank were North Pole sponsors along with Directions Credit Union, ITC Holdings and the Monroe Downtown Development Authority. The 2025 Sugar Plum sponsors were Garan Lucow Miller P.C., DRM Terminal Port Management, Fishbeck Architects and Floral City Images. The city also invites any business in Monroe to take part in the light displays during the season.
How the Night Runs on Nov. 20
The new pieces are unveiled at the Monroe Hometown Tree Lighting in Loranger Square on Friday, Nov. 20, 2026, from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. The tree will be lit at 7 p.m. sharp. Loranger Square is on East First Street. The tree lighting is always the Friday before Thanksgiving, and the city treats it as the start of the Christmas shopping season.
Here's the published schedule for this year:
- 5:00 to 9:00 p.m.: Food trucks
- 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.: Santa visits and photos, horse-and-wagon rides, a Barnyard Petting Farm, a live Nativity, children's activities and games, chestnut roasting, and strolling Victorian characters
- 5:30 to 7:00 p.m.: Crafts, Nutcracker dancers and Miss Monroe Pageant winners at Dorsch Library
- 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.: Visits with characters
- 7:00 p.m.: Tree lighting
- Also on the program: Christmas carols and music
If you have young kids, the schedule gives you a natural plan. Dorsch Library's crafts and dancers wrap up at 7, right as the tree is lit. Families can do the library first and still get to the square for the lighting. The character visits run until 8, and the food trucks stay open until 9, after most of the other activities have ended.
Streets around the event will close. The city has posted a street closure map dated Oct. 30, 2026. Check it before you pick where to park.
A Second Downtown-Area Date on Dec. 5
The tree lighting starts the light display's season, and a different kind of holiday event follows just over two weeks later. On Saturday, Dec. 5, River Raisin National Battlefield Park holds French Noel, a French Habitant Noel celebration, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Visitor Center, 333 North Dixie Highway. Foundation members can also sign up for a hands-on French Noel program that afternoon from 1 to 3 p.m., making candles, pomanders and dried-orange crafts.
After an afternoon at the Visitor Center, the drive back downtown takes you past the Hometown Holiday Lights pieces.
I'm Jake Levicki with Jacob Levicki. If you're downtown on Nov. 20 and wondering which blocks are getting the new garlands, or what's coming to downtown Monroe after the holidays, I'm happy to talk it through. Let's Connect.
