The Story Behind Van Andel Arena’s Stunning 15,000-Light Ribbon

Many iconic images represent the holiday season: snowmen, gingerbread houses, candy canes, Christmas trees, and more. While many cities around the country celebrate the holidays by putting up massive Christmas trees, one building in Grand Rapids celebrates in a truly spectacular way.

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Since 2014, visitors to Downtown Grand Rapids have been greeted with a massive dazzling red ribbon adorning the Van Andel Arena every holiday season. This unique decor stands out not just because it is lit up and eye-catching, but because its story is just as special.

The "Little" Details

Hilarie Carpenter, the Regional Director of Marketing of ASM Global which runs the Van Andel Arena, DeVos Place, and DeVos Performance Hall, provided some more details on the ribbon:

• There are approximately 15,000 lights across the whole ribbon.
• In its entirety, it is 270' across and 65' high.
• Each panel that makes up the ribbon is 8'x8' and 8'x10'
• It takes about 1.5 days to put up and 1/2 a day to take down.

Something Different For The Community

As for why the Arena went in this gleaming direction, the community has the General Manager of Van Andel Arena Rich MacKeigan to thank. Rich was kind enough to speak with me and share the story behind the ribbon.

For years, the Van Andel Arena put up a Christmas tree of its own. However, once the Grand Rapids Art Museum (GRAM) started putting up a tree of its own, MacKeigan wanted to do something new to set the Arena apart from the tree up the street.

So, he did some digging and noticed buildings around the world decorating the buildings themselves, turning the building into an exhibit all of its own. MacKeigan pitched the idea of putting a ribbon on the Arena, and the idea was met with enthusiasm.

The best surprise in the search for a ribbon big enough for the Arena was the LED Light-up Ribbon was not the original idea, according to MacKeigan.

"Originally, I pitched just putting a big ribbon on the building, but in our search for someone who could make a ribbon that big, we found Dave DeVries with Christmas Décor by Lakeshore Lighting who could make these awesome LED Light ribbons and went in that direction instead."

MacKeigan ended our conversation by explaining why he thought a ribbon would be the best item to decorate the Arena, stating that "the Arena is a present to the community, and we want to put a bow on it."