Oxford Chamber lights up Obrecht Bridge for the holidays

By Don Rush
For the first time in over 50 years Santa Claus will not usher in the Christmas season, at the end of the annual Oxford Chamber of Commerce parade. The first Saturday in December tradition was cancelled.
“This is the first year we were not able to have the parade. Because of the restrictions from Covid, M-24 road construction and for the best interest of the community’s health (we cancelled),” said chamber Executive Director Amy Desotell. “We had to pivot to make the holidays bright for Oxford. The chamber realized Oxford has been through so much and the businesses are struggling, so we brainstormed to light the Larry Obrecht Bridge to bring attention to our town and businesses.”
As part of the Polly Ann Trail, the bridge spans N. Washington Street, and connects the east and west sides of the trail.
A small group of chamber members “flicked the switch” and lit up the bridge on a foggy Tuesday night last week. It was the accumulation of much work, Desotell said.
“We have never done this before and didn’t realize the channels we had to go through to make this happen,” she said. “We had to be approved by the Oxford Village Police, Oxford Village Council, the Department of Natural Resources, the Polly Ann Trail group and the Michigan Department of Transportation before we could light the bridge and hang the banner!”
Despite all the bureaucratic hoops to jump through, Destotell said every group was accommodating and “very positive about lighting the bridge.”
Excel Cleaning Brothers of Ortonville was hired to do the lighting job and hang the banner on the bridge.
The Oxford Chamber of Commerce is very proud to be able to do this for the holidays,” she said, adding, “The DPW is doing a beautiful job of lighting the new light posts through town and decorating Centennial Park. (For the bridge) we chose lights which match and make Oxford bright. We hope everyone enjoys it through the holiday season.”