Get set for a lively stretch of high-visibility events that will "confound the world’s expectations about a bedraggled city, down in the dumps, licking its wounds," as Tom Walsh puts it in his Free Press column.
Southeast Michigan has certainly been through some challenging times in the past decade, but the energy level is feeling better these days. . . .
Instead of huddling in our homes amid the slush and snow of late December and January, locals and tens of thousands of visitors will be watching sports and reveling in winter events in and around Detroit. . . .
“In just the last couple weeks of December, we’ll have 400,000 to 500,000 in downtown Detroit, many of them visiting from Canada,” said Tom Wilson, president and CEO of Olympia Entertainment and the Red Wings. . . . “You get a sense, as you talk to sponsors, that people around the country are watching the city real closely. There’s a spotlight on us.
"When people ask, ‘How are things, really?’ and you tell them that the Wings have sold out 125 games in a row, they start to realize there’s life here, we have a pulse.”
The Freep business writer ticks of this busy lineup:
- Ford Field: Lions' final home game Sunday is sold out. Bowling Green State University and the University of Pittsburgh play Thursday in Pizza Bowl.
- Hockeytown Winter Festival: Fan Zone activities and nine hockey games at Comerica Park, Dec. 27-31.
- Winter Classic: Detroit and Toronto could set hockey attendance record at Michigan Stadium on New Year's Day.
- Auto Show: Charity preview Jan. 17 at Cobo. Public days Jan. 18-25.
Video: Live stream feed from hockey rink at Comerica Park.
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