Rochester Hills

Village lights up for holidays

By Linda Shepard
C & G Staff Writer

» click to enlarge « Photo by Linda Shepard Free visits to Santa’s Snug at the Village of Rochester Hills shopping center are available throughout the holiday season. Photo by Linda Shepard Free visits to Santa’s Snug at the Village of Rochester Hills shopping center are available throughout the holiday season.

ROCHESTER HILLS — More than 850,000 bulbs will light up the Village of Rochester Hills shopping center when Santa arrives Nov. 16.

“We are talking about not just a tree lighting; we are lighting the whole Village at the same time,” said Shelleen McHale, Village marketing director. “A marching band will bring Santa in. We’ve got a children’s choir and the Salvation Army brass band.”

The Village lighting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. with entertainment and caroling to follow.

“It is a great opportunity to bring the kids out to see Santa,” said Rochester Hills Mayor Bryan Barnett. “And what I’ve heard is that the boys and girls have been good this year, so Santa will spend a lot of time in the Village.”

Village lighting events include a scavenger hunt, crafts, photo booths, a bounce house, face painting and more. “It will be a lot a fun,” McHale said. “There will be hot cocoa and coffee served and gingerbread cookies. It will be a huge, huge event.”

Village visitors are asked to bring a new, unwrapped toy to donate to the Salvation Army. With each toy that is donated, a raffle ticket for one of four prizes will be given. Raffle prizes include a grand prize of riding with Santa in a Rochester Hills Fire Department truck and being his first visitor.

Additional raffle prizes include theater passes to the Michigan Ballet Theatre performance of “The Nutcracker” and a down coat from Eddie Bauer.

The Salvation Army toy drive is new this year, McHale said. “The tree lighting in Detroit at Campus Martius is the same night,” she said, and it includes a Salvation Army Family Fun Tent. 

“We are doing it on purpose,” she said. “All our collected toys will stay in northern Oakland County. This is a way to show that the Salvation Army is everywhere.”

Free visits to Santa’s Snug at the Village are available throughout the holiday season, and parents are encouraged to bring their own cameras. The Village of Rochester Hills shopping center is located at the northeast corner of Walton Boulevard and Adams Road.

For more information, visit www.thevorh.com.

You can reach C & G Staff Writer Linda Shepard at lshepard@candgnews.com or at (586)498-1065.