My family and I found a nice little surprise in Detroit last night. We spotted the Michigan Central Station light show, part of the “Detroit Homecoming” event. I’m so used to seeing the old train station closed with not much activity going on in it. It was the coolest thing to see it come to life with the lights and other Detroiters enjoying the view!

If you were in Detroit, did you see the light show at Michigan Central Station? I’m so out of the loop because I didn’t even know about it! Last night, my husband and I were leaving Southwest Detroit and we just so happen to have passed by the old train station.

The first thing we noticed was several cars pulled over. People were standing by their cars with their cell phones out. “I wonder what’s going on,” I said to my husband. As we neared the front of the station, we saw the windows in the train station light up. And then all of a sudden, letters flew across the building.

“Do you want me to pull over?” my husband asked me because he knows how I am. He knows if I spot something cool, I’m going to ask him to stop the van so I can take a picture of it.

Funny thing is, though, I almost told him not to worry about it and to just keep going. But my gut told me to tell him to stop so we could check it out. I am so glad we stopped or we would have missed the awesome, mini light show!

 

 

We had four out of five of our children with us, too. My oldest Elijah (17) had stayed home. Michala (15) and Zhen (4) thought the lights were pretty cool. Zechariah (2), on the other hand, was just a little frightened by the blinking lights on the HUGE building. I can only imagine how it must have looked to a two-year-old.

I managed to snap a few photos with my DSLR. Of course, my photographs do not do the light display justice. You had to have seen it in person. It was really cool!

 

Here are photographs I snapped of the spelling of “Detroit” going across the Michigan Central Station windows.

Michigan Central Station Light Show
“D-E-T…”

 

“…T-R-O…”

 

Michigan Central Station Light Show
“…O-I-T”

The other words which flashed across the building windows were: 

  • HOMECOMING
  • REINVEST
  • REIMAGINE

Travis asked me if I knew what the light show as for, and at first, I didn’t have a clue. After reading the word “HOMECOMING”, I put two and two together and realized it was probably for the Detroit Homecoming event. I told him I didn’t know very much about it; I just knew I had seen some information and pictures about homecoming on Twitter.

Once I got home, I researched online “Detroit Homecoming” and came across a few Detroit-based news articles about the event. Turned out I was right about the light show being part of the Detroit Homecoming event. If you’re just as clueless as I was about it all, you can check out the Detroit Metro Times‘ article here and Daily Detroit’s article here.

 

Michigan Central Station Light Show
After reading the word “HOMECOMING”, I put two and two together and realized the light show was probably for the Detroit Homecoming event.

 

 

 

Written by

Jennifer Hamra

Freelance creative Jennifer Hamra created her blog Good Life Detroit in 2015 after relocating from Tennessee to Southeast Michigan.

Inspired by her love for personal blogging and photography, Jennifer likes to share her favorite Detroit things, from cool places to visit (the hidden gems are her favorite!) to the amazing people she has connected with over the years.

When she's not busy juggling family life and her creative projects, you can find her at an art gallery, community event, farmers market, or spending quiet time at home with a good book and cup of tea.

Jennifer lives in the metro Detroit area with her husband Travis and their six children.

Connect with Jennifer on social media @goodlifedetroit on all social media platforms or via email at [email protected].