🎅 125 free Santa suits are going out downtown

Morning, Ann Arbor! More people registered to vote on Election Day than ever before, and the line didn’t quit until half past eight. Elsewhere this week: the Shawarma Shop is back in a room three times its old size, the city wants to hear from every small business owner in town, and Fleet Feet is handing out 125 Santa suits. Oh, and Michigan hosted State. We don’t want to talk about it but they made a significant coaching change yesterday. Let’s roll.

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🗳️ Ann Arbor Just Set Its Voter Registration Record

More than 3,000 people registered to vote on Election Day, which City Clerk Jacqueline Beaudry says is more than any Election Day in Ann Arbor's history. That's on top of 19,000-plus ballots cast over 12 days of early voting and another 21,000-plus absentee ballots that came in beforehand. Great job, friends. City of Ann Arbor

⚡ Proposal E Falls Short by 951 Votes

Voters turned down Proposal E on Tuesday. It would have had the city study whether it could drop DTE and run its own electric utility. Council already came out against it last month, 10-1. The margin was 951 votes.

🏪 The City Wants to Hear From Small Businesses

Council voted 9-0 on Oct. 19 to send staff out to talk to local business owners and come back with ways to help, especially the ones getting pushed out by rising rent or redevelopment. Permitting came up a lot. Council Member Chris Watson, who sponsored the resolution, said “uncertain timelines when it comes to permitting and inspections can halt an idea before it gets off the ground.” The city also wants a running count of which storefronts are opening, closing and sitting empty, and what they rent for. More support for local small business = a big hallelujah from the Michigander team. ❤️ MLive

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📋 What City Council Got Done This Week
Council approved new rules for cryptocurrency kiosks aimed at curbing scams (operators now need a license and must provide fraud warnings, ID checks, and transaction limits), strengthened protections at places of worship by barring threats or blocking entrances within 50 feet, and authorized up to $10 million in bonds for park improvements. Mayor Christopher Taylor’s last meeting after 12 years, before Yousef Rabhi is sworn in Dec. 1. ClickOnDetroit

🏈 Michigan Loses the Paul Bunyan Trophy to Michigan State
Even Wolverine couldn’t save this one. Hugh Jackman, Marvel’s Wolverine himself, served as Michigan’s honorary captain but the night belonged to the Spartans. Michigan dropped a 15-6 game to rival Michigan State, handing over the Paul Bunyan Trophy and falling to 5-4. The story was turnovers and a stalled offense. The defense kept fighting (John Henry Daley had two sacks, Troy Bowles a career-high 15 tackles) but spent most of the night on the field. Coach Whittingham fired offensive coordinator Jason Beck on Sunday, with line coach Jim Harding taking over play-calling for the rest of the season.Next up: a tough road trip to Oregon. MGoBlue

🌳 The Parks Plan Is Up for Rewrite

Ann Arbor is rewriting the plan that sets its parks priorities. Two drop-in workshops this week: Thursday the 12th, 4 to 7, at the downtown library (343 S. Fifth Ave), and Saturday the 14th, 11 to 1, at Veterans Memorial Park Arena (2150 Jackson Ave). Both have free food. If you can’t make either, the survey runs through Dec. 15. City of Ann Arbor

🥙 Shawarma Shop Got a Much Bigger Room

Shawarma Shop & Bakery is open again at 777 E. Eisenhower Pkwy, now in a bigger space just next door to its old spot, which closed in late 2025 to make way for the Arbor South project. Owner Bilal Choukeir runs the kitchen with his wife, Jenny. Halal meats, overnight marinades, house-made hummus, and fresh pita. Shawarma Shop & Bakery

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🎅 125 Santa Suits Are Going Out on Liberty Street

Fleet Feet’s downtown store (123 E Liberty St) runs the Jolly Jog on Saturday, Dec. 12 at 9 a.m. The first 125 people to register claim a full Santa suit, picked up the Friday before between 4 and 6 p.m. Kids 12 and under run free and get a stocking instead; everyone else pays $10. Mizuno and Currex will be on hand with shoes and insoles to wear-test on the run, and the store is collecting toys for the Little Victors at Mott. Fleet Feet Ann Arbor

🎮 Someone Built a Drivable 3D Ann Arbor
This is too cool not to share. A local developer used the city’s open data to build an open-world Ann Arbor you can walk, drive, bike, fly, or paddle around in, right in your browser. It’s stitched together from real city datasets (building footprints, street trees, road speed limits, even live Huron River levels and the weather at the airport). As the creator put it, “not quite GTA 6, but GTAA will have to do.” Go take it for a spin. Play it here

On the Market  ($560K or Less)

2104 Arborview Blvd — $450,000 3 bed | 2 bath | 1,368 sqft - A 1948 west-side home on tree-lined Arborview Blvd with hardwood floors, a renovated upstairs primary suite, a screened porch and a fenced backyard, walkable to Vets Park and Miller Nature Area.

1607 Anderson Ave — $550,000 3 bed | 3 bath | 1,857 sqft - A sunny, south-facing 1951 home with an updated kitchen, renovated baths, a fenced quarter-acre lot and an oversized two-car garage, minutes from York and Madras Masala.

1605 Pontiac Trl — $559,900 3 bed | 1 bath | 1,122 sqft - A move-in-ready 1951 north-side home with new windows, HVAC and electrical, a blue-and-gold quartz kitchen, original hardwood floors, a big deck and a privacy-fenced yard.

Adoptable Humane Society Pets

Amy Tan — 2 months | 7 lbs Spayed Female | Border Collie. A tiny black-and-white puppy who rolled in on HSHV’s Love Train and is ready for a family to call her own. Meet Amy Tan

Asher — 2 months | 2 lbs Neutered Male | Domestic Shorthair. A curious black-and-white kitten who would love someone to guide him as he explores the world. Meet Asher 

Aldous Huxley — 2 months | 9 lbs Neutered Male | Border Collie. A brown-and-white puppy who also came in on the Love Train and is looking for a family to grow up with. Meet Aldous Huxley

That's all for now! Have a great week in Tree Town!

— Ryan, James, and the Michigander Team

P.S. - One newly built “party house” at 305 Snyder Ave., a 3,215-square-foot custom pad built just for game-day gatherings, has a rooftop deck stamped with a block M, an indoor bar, and room for a golf simulator. Owned by 12 U-M alums. Peep the video.

P.P.S. - Palio (347 S. Main St) is lighting its rooftop tree on Sunday, Nov. 29 from 6 to 7:45, free to walk into, with carolers, Santa, and complimentary hot cocoa and sweets and if you bring an ornament for the tree they'll hand you a glass of warm spiced wine for it.  Palio

P.P.P.S. - City offices are closed Wednesday for Veterans Day, and Parks & Rec is marking it by opening Huron Hills for free golf all day and Mack Indoor Pool for free swimming in three windows, for anyone active duty or a veteran. Details

P.P.P.P.S. - TheRide is running no buses, FlexRide, or A-Ride on Thanksgiving, with service back Friday on a Saturday schedule. And with the Blake Transit Center closed for construction, downtown boarding has moved to Fifth and Washington. TheRide

P.P.P.P.P.S. - The Ann Arbor Symphony and the UMS Choral Union fill Hill Auditorium with Mozart's Requiem on Friday at 7:30, and seats start at $20, with $15 student tickets if you've still got the ID. Details

P.P.P.P.P.P.S. - The downtown library gives over its whole first floor to a Printmaking Festival on Saturday, with printing demos and hands-on presses from 1 to 4, then does it again Sunday for Bookfest, where novelist Katie Kitamura takes the fourth floor at 10:30 a.m. Both free. Printmaking FestivaL

P.P.P.P.P.P.P.S. - AFC Ann Arbor is running its first Soccer 101 speaker series Nov. 17 at 7 p.m. in the Celtic room at Conor O’Neill’s, open to anyone, whether or not you can name a single player (they’d like an RSVP). 2027 season memberships are also on sale now. AFC Ann Arbor

If you’re interested in advertising with us at the end of 2026 or sometime in 2027 → click here to start the conversation. We’d love to hear from you.

🐻 Michigander Things 

• Website — all our posts, upcoming events, and more

• Instagram — 3.7k+ followers. Small business highlights, events around town, join the fun.

• Merch store — grab something Tree Town for yourself or a friend. The crew neck and hats are hot items right now.

• Refer a friend — rack up referrals for free swag

• Have an inside tip? — Let us know! We love to be the first to share what’s happening around town and often rely on your eyes and ears.

• Advertise with us — Reach 5,000+ local readers

A note from a happy advertiser: “Michigander is by far the best place we advertise... No ad we’ve placed anywhere else has ever brought people in but when we advertise with the Michigander we get people who talk to us about the ads and see an immediate increase in foot traffic.”

If that sounds like something you’d want for your business, reach out. We’ve got a few slots open for next month and early 2027.