12 DAYS OF MICHIGAN

The holidays are a time for celebration, food, festivities and traditions and Michigan has unique connections to many of these. During the 12 Days of Michigan,

we celebrate all that our state has to offer with a Michigan holiday fact each day

DAY 1 DAY 2

DAY 5

DAY 3

DAY 4

A partridge in a cranberry shrub.

Michigan grows more than 300 farm commodities,

including more than 260 acres of cranberries!

Two HoneyBaked hams

In 1957, Harry J. Hoenselaar opened the first HoneyBaked Ham Company in Detroit, and

it has since grown to more than 400 stores nationwide.

Visit the world’s largest Christmas store at

Frankenmuth’s Bronners CHRISTmas Wonderland,

or view one of the 1.5 million twinkling lights at Rochester’s

Big Bright Light Show.

Kwanzaa is celebrated each year between December 26

and January 1. In Detroit, many families gather to reflect and honor its founding principles.

The Charles H. Wright Museum will pay tribute to this holiday's

rich cultural heritage with a candle lighting each night

followed by evening festivities.

If every family in the US shifted $10 a month to locally-owned,

independent businesses, over $9.3 billion would be directly returned to

local economies.

Three dreidels spinningDecember 4 marked the

third annual Menorah it the D on the last night of Chanukah. A 24-foot menorah at Campus

Martius was designed and built by brothers Frank

and Israel Nordin.

Michigan ranks third in the nation in the number of

Christmas trees harvested and produces a wider variety than other states, supplying three million fresh Christmas

trees nationally each year.

December 12 is National Poinsettia Day, and many of the holiday plants are grown here in Michigan. The state

is seventh in the U.S. for poinsettia production and

produced 2.3 million plants last holiday season.

Michigan has the largest number of

chestnut growers and the most

acreage of any state.

Four twinkling lights

DAY 12

DAY 9Nine poinsetta flowers

DAY 10Ten railcars chugging twelve chestnuts

for roasting

DAY 6Six Michigan Businesses

Five Christmas trees

DAY 7

Seven candles buring

Did you know that Polar Express author, and Grand Rapids native,

Chris Van Allsburg used a Michigan train for inspiration? When the

movie was made in 2004, Michigan’s Pere Marquette 1225 locomotive

was used for the prototype.

Michigan winter recreation brings in about $2.5 billion to the state’s

economy. In Michigan, you are never more than two hours away

from a ski area, and there are more than 6,500 miles of inter-connected snowmobile trails in

the state.

DAY 8Eight skiers skiing

®

A northern Michigan company is supplying the wool that will be

used to make sweaters for Team USA at the Olympic Winter

Games in Sochi.

DAY 11

Eleven wool sweaters