Courtesy Photo The Water Street Commons in Alpena is decorated for the holiday season. On Saturday, there will be the inaugural Christmas at the Commons event where there will be much to do for people of all ages.

Alpena – On Saturday from 2-7 pm, the Water Street Commons and the Alpena Downtown Development Authority (DDA) are hosting its first-ever Christmas at the Commons event. The event is for all ages.

Highlights of the event include:

– Gluhwein for sale- a seasonal mulled wine found in Christmas markets across Europe

– Meet and greet with Clydesdale horses from 2-5 pm

– Special Santa appearance from 3-4 pm

– Live merry music from Messy Meadows from 5-6 pm

– Truck Your Pizza pop-up from 12-7 pm

– Fire-pits set up nearby

– Free festive tractor rides through downtown with Ginop Sales in Hillman all weekend from Saturday from 11-7 pm and Sunday from 11-4 pm)-. The rides leaves from Water Street

Additionally, the tiny shops will be open to help you find the perfect holiday gift. Holiday vendors include Briar Hill Bakehouse, Falls Creek Produce & Flowers, Birch Hill Grocery, Choucas Hats, the Art Nook, Sunrise Side Co-Op Market, and Knaebe’s.

“Several of our committee members have been to Christmas markets across Europe, and we are creating a small slice of that here at the Water Street Commons,” said DDA Executive Director Anne Gentry. “The shops are filled with locally-made and one-of-a-kind gifts, the twinkling lights have been hung, and we’ll hope you’ll join us for a steaming mug of gluhwein, meeting Santa, or taking a tractor ride around downtown to see the decorations.”

During the event, Cristi and Scotty Johnson will be bartending the gluhwein station, which will also offer a holiday beer and spiked (and non-spiked) hot cocoa for sale.

All tips will be donated to a Parkinson’s Exercise Group, which is hosted downtown at SkellaFit Personal Training Studio, so that the program can be continued to be offered at no charge to folks with Parkinson’s and their caregivers.

The event runs 2-7 pm on Saturday. . In addition to the fire-pits, there will also be a tent with patio heaters for warming up. The event is free and open to all ages. For more information, please contact the DDA at downtownalpenami@gmail.com or 989-356-6422.