Green Friday will coincide with East Lansing’s annual Winter Glow Festival from 3-6 p.m. on Saturday. The holiday festival will be held in the Fountain Square Park and Ann Street Plaza area of downtown. There also will be indoor activities inside the East Lansing Marriott at University Place.?

Michelle Carlson, the community events assistant for East Lansing, said there will be opportunities for people to take pictures with Santa inside the Marriott, as well as a kid’s carnival outside with a music tent, reindeer petting, wagon rides and a winter farmer’s market among other features.

Carlson said planning for the event begins in July to book Santa and the reindeer, since it typically is their busiest weekend of the year. The event has many events for families and children, but Carlson said the event is student friendly as well.

“We see a mix of (residents and students),” she said. “We get a lot of students who come for the hot chocolate and roasted chestnuts. I’ve been working with this event for seven years and I’ve seen students really enjoy it.”

Carlson said she has seen attendance grow over the years despite the fact that the event has changed.

“The event started small with a chili cook-off and now has changed into a winter festival,” she said. “The cook-off got too big, the restaurants couldn’t make enough chili to make samples so we had to stop the cook-off.”

A small section of M.A.C. Avenue between Albert Avenue and the East Lansing Marriott parking lot will remain closed for the event.