Residents of Traverse City have getting the community together over the last three weekends to bring Christmas cheer. Every year neighbors between 8th and 9th Street in Traverse City decorate their alley so people can drive by and enjoy their lights. This year the ring leader of the operation, Steve Purkiss, decided they should also raise money for Salvation Army..
The alley between Eighth and Ninth Streets in the Central Neighborhood has been transformed into something out of a fairy tale. Thousands of brightly-colored lights and lawn ornaments hang from roof gables and ropes ― a set of chimes mounted on the side of a garage rings out traditional carols.
Vince Cornelier is standing outside his garage, ringing a bell next to a red Salvation army kettle.
“What we’ve decided to do is to collect funds for the Salvation Army,” he says. “Because with the masks and everything, it is hard to come up on people when you are coming out of the store, and so this seemed like a good thing to try, and it seems to be working out.”