Until this spring, Main Street between Center and Hutton was a corridor nearly 20 years old, with deteriorating pavers and a crumbling traffic island under the clock tower. That stretch now has a new concrete base, a rebuilt island and a raised crossing at the clock tower. Town Square has a new lighting system that runs every day.
The Hometown Holiday Lighted Parade on Friday, Nov. 20 kicks off the first holiday season since that work wrapped up. The biggest changes are right where the tree lighting happens, and the weekend's two markets bracket them.
The street under the parade is new
Construction started in April. The barricades came down June 22, after more than two months of work, Hometown Life reported. The Downtown Development Authority's project page lists Highland Services as general contractor.
Three changes matter on parade night:
- The tabletop crossing at the clock tower. This part of Main Street is now raised almost level with Town Square. The street and the square used to be separate spaces. Now they're closer to one continuous surface, right where people crowd in for the tree lighting.
- The rebuilt traffic island. The island had been crumbling. It was rebuilt along with improvements to the clock tower.
- The pavers. The old, worn pavers were replaced and the street got a new concrete base underneath. The surface people stand on for the parade and walk during the Greens Market is new from the ground up.
On reopening day, DDA Director Kate Knight described how cars handled the raised crossing in comments to Hometown Life:
"It's a really comfortable but conscious easing up onto that traffic table and back down. I think that's a sign of the successful incorporation of pedestrian-oriented infrastructure."
That's the point of the design. The street is built to slow cars down and favor people on foot, which is how it gets used on parade night and during the Greens Market on Main and Center.
The square now has lights of its own before the tree
The second change is easy to miss in daylight. In the June story, Knight said new Town Square lighting would go in sometime over the summer. In her September 2026 executive director report, she wrote that the system "showed well" at the Sept. 17 "Toast to Town Square." That gathering marked what she called the "(almost) final completion" of the Main Street renovation at Town Square.
According to the report, the lights work more like a programmable system than ordinary streetlights:
- Lighting consultant Gasser Bush set up controls for three systems that run at the same time.
- The lights come on every day as ambient lighting, not only during events.
- The design cuts down on up-glare, which the report ties to new upper-floor residents coming to The Downs and to the historic downtown.
The October report set an Oct. 28 training session for DDA staff, the concert production vendor and the landscape architect, run by Gasser Bush. They were to learn to program the lights from an app, with the ability to "change the program daily or annually as designed."
The tree lighting is set for 8 p.m. on Nov. 20, so the square's new lights will be part of the scene when the tree comes on.
The weekend, in order
The Northville Chamber of Commerce runs the weekend with the DDA, Northville Parks & Recreation and the Living & Learning Enrichment Center. Here's the 2026 schedule from the Chamber's Hometown Holiday page:
| Day | Time | Event | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fri., Nov. 20 | 6:30 p.m. | Holiday Lighted Parade | Downtown Northville |
| Fri., Nov. 20 | 8 p.m. | Tree Lighting Ceremony | Town Square |
| Sat., Nov. 21 | 9 a.m. | Santa 5K Run/Walk | 550 Seven Mile Rd. |
| Sat., Nov. 21 | 10 a.m.–6 p.m. | Hometown Holiday Greens Market | Main & Center |
| Sat., Nov. 21 | 10 a.m.–6 p.m. | Hometown Holiday Handmade Market | Northville Community Center |
| Sat., Nov. 21 | Noon–6 p.m. | Free Santa visits | Town Square |
| Sat., Nov. 21 | Noon–4 p.m. | Horse and wagon rides | Departing City Hall |
| Sun., Nov. 22 | 9 a.m.–3 p.m. | Hometown Holiday Greens Market | Main & Center |
| Sun., Nov. 22 | 10 a.m.–3 p.m. | Hometown Holiday Handmade Market | Northville Community Center |
| Sun., Nov. 22 | Noon–3 p.m. | Free Santa visits | Town Square |
The 2026 parade theme is "Home for the Holidays." If flashing lights and sirens are hard on someone in your group, head for Linden Street. The parade page says a Sensory Zone runs there, set up with the Living & Learning Enrichment Center. Parade groups will do their best to cut back on flashing lights and loud noises like horns and sirens along that stretch.
The Chamber says the Greens Market on Main and Center will have more than 55 local vendors. It also lists live ice carving, live entertainment, warming stations and food trucks. This is the first year the market sets up on the rebuilt street.
A second market on West Main
New this year, Northville Parks & Recreation is running the first Hometown Holiday Handmade Market at the Northville Community Center, 303 W. Main St. Admission is $4 presale or $5 at the door, and either way you get five raffle tickets. It's open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday.
The Meet the Makers page lists 33 vendors so far and says more will be added. The categories cover art, home décor, jewelry, fiber arts, specialty foods, soaps, and bath and body products. A few names on the list:
- Allow Nourishment for soaps and bath and body products
- Bread & Pine Baked Goods for specialty foods
- Paula Neys Art for cards and paintings
So the weekend now has two markets. The Greens Market is outdoors on Main and Center, and the Handmade Market is indoors on West Main for anyone who wants to get out of the cold for a while.
The fountain is the piece still in progress
The new street and lighting are one phase of a bigger plan. In February, Hometown Life laid out the DDA's multi-year program at about $3.3 million. The Town Square portion was estimated at $381,000 and covered new paving and landscaping, furnishings, lighting, an audiovisual package, bandshell repairs and a replacement fountain. The plan called for a fountain with trickling water in warm months and fire bowls in winter.
The fountain fell behind. The June story reported that two bids came in well above what the DDA expected. A third contractor quoted closer to budget but couldn't start until later in the summer. The old fountain stayed in place, and the replacement moved to later in 2026 so the DDA wouldn't start another big project during downtown's busiest months. Once a new fountain does go in, those winter fire bowls will make the square a different place to stand on a cold December night.
The work also extends beyond the square. On Oct. 22, the DDA cut the ribbon on the Gateway Overlook, a plaza linking downtown with Ford Field. The DDA put $100,000 toward it, working with the City. The next piece comes in 2027: a stair-and-walkway project on Cady Street. It's budgeted at about $1 million, backed by a $686,050 SEMCOG Transportation Alternatives Program grant, and will serve as the main ADA-accessible route between Town Square and The Downs. As of June, the finished Main Street work accounted for about $1 million of the roughly $3 million DDA plan.
That gives the weekend's walking route some extra meaning. Start at the Sensory Zone on Linden or a spot near the clock tower on Friday night. On Saturday, walk the Greens Market on Main and Center, then head down West Main to the Community Center. That loop covers most of what Northville rebuilt this year. The Cady Street connection to The Downs is the part still to come.
I spent years as a firefighter and contractor before I got into real estate, so I notice what's under the pavement as much as the décor on top. If this weekend has you wondering how downtown's new layout and the coming growth at The Downs affect a home a few blocks away, Craig Hickey can walk you through it at whatever pace works for you. Let's Connect.
