The People Who Dedicated Three Oaks' New Bridge Are Running Its Holiday Season, Too
October 29, 2026
October 29, 2026
"Look down the sidewalks, the driveways, the foundations of our village," Michael Shannon of American Legion Post 204 said on September 3, standing on the rebuilt Hickory Street viaduct. "John literally helped lay the groundwork for the community we enjoy today." Harbor Country News reported the speech the day the bridge was dedicated to John C. Kramer.
Kramer died October 2 at 81, one month after the ribbon was cut. In October, the people who gathered on his bridge went straight back to their usual fall work. A Halloween 5K starts and finishes at Post 204. The Downtown Development Authority is buying the Halloween candy. As Harbor Country News reported from the October 14 council meeting, Village President Steve Graziano opened it with a moment of remembrance for Kramer, and the same meeting went on to plan Halloween and the holiday season. Three Oaks' season from Halloween to the holidays runs on a short list of local institutions, and Kramer spent his life inside most of them.
Anyone who drives Hickory Street has crossed the result. The viaduct over the Amtrak tracks was rebuilt from the ground up, with a new road surface and new sidewalks. Most of the construction started in February. The road was paved July 10 and opened to traffic the next day.
Village Manager Dan Faulkner said the bridge's weight limit had been lowered step by step over the last few years as its condition got worse. The project cost nearly $3 million. A state MI Bridge grant paid 90 percent of it, and Three Oaks paid the other 10 percent of construction plus engineering fees. Traffic was moving by mid-July, and the village's own project page now lists the bridge replacement project as completed in August 2026.
The dedication speeches made clear why a concrete-and-steel span suited the name. Kramer served in the Navy from 1965 to 1969, then joined Post 204. In 1978 he and Butch Schwark founded Spring Creek Masonry, a partnership that ran for 30 years. In 1986 he ran for village council, following his father, and he held the seat for four decades. His obituary from Wagner Family Funerals adds that he also served on the Three Oaks Township Planning Commission, the Board of Review and the Zoning Board of Appeals. Shannon's line about sidewalks and driveways was about something you can see. "I would wager a guess that most of us have a piece of John and Butch's handiwork around their house," he said.
Look at who spoke at the dedication: the Legion post, the Harbor Country Chamber of Commerce through Shawn VanKampen, and the village president. Then look at who is running the next two months. It's mostly the same people.
| Date | Event | Where | Who's behind it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fri., Oct. 30, 6 p.m. | OaktoberFAST Beat the Sunset Spooky 5K | American Legion Post 204, 204 W. Linden St. | Starts and finishes at Post 204 |
| Sat., Oct. 31, 4 to 7 p.m. | Spooktacular | At or ending in Dewey Cannon Park | DDA buys trick-or-treat candy for Village Hall |
| Through October | Scarecrow Challenge | Downtown | River Valley Schools students |
| Sat., Nov. 28 | Snowflake Stroll, "Make Merry" | Downtown shops | DDA and participating businesses |
| Nov. 6 to Dec. 19 | Fall and holiday shows | The Acorn | The Acorn |
This post goes up the day before the 5K. Packet pickup for the OaktoberFAST Spooky 5K is 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. Friday at the post, and runners start at 6.
Saturday's Spooktacular follows a set schedule. A build-your-own UFO display runs from 4 to 6 p.m., an inflatable race starts at 5:45, and an 8 p.m. party closes out the night. Before then, the scarecrows along downtown streets are worth a walk. Elementary students built them in their science labs, high school students helped finish them, and the village is asking residents to vote for favorites.
The same council meeting showed how these groups work things out among themselves. The Parks and Recreation Committee took up the annual U.S. 12 Garage Sale, where park signs banning motorized vehicles make it hard for vendors to load and unload. Members called the sale an important fundraiser for local organizations and talked about a compromise that would allow loading for special events.
The holiday season starts on Small Business Saturday, November 28, with the annual Snowflake Stroll. The DDA brought the stroll to the council, and this year's theme is "Make Merry." Businesses are invited to host activities, run promotions, offer tastings, give away stocking stuffers, or bring in music.
The stroll only works if shops sign up, so each one decides what it adds. The Snowflake Stroll page plans free stocking decorating for kids and visits to participating shops from 4 to 6 p.m., with a holiday parade after. Businesses are still signing up, and the final map isn't out yet. The full list of stops won't be set until closer to the date.
Here's a rough plan for the afternoon:
Two storefronts next to each other on North Elm show how a downtown this size keeps itself filled.
At 104 N. Elm St., Lost & Found, also called the Lost + Found Department, opened as an offshoot of Goods & Heroes. Three Oaks resident Kiki Belloc, an experienced online reseller, came up with the idea with Suzanne Bierwirth of Goods & Heroes. Belloc also teaches crocheting at Bierwirth's Yarn Shop. The stock changes constantly: gently worn clothing and shoes, jewelry, art, books, vintage pieces and closeout items at deep discounts. There's no dressing room yet, so try things on over your clothes. Current hours are Friday noon to 5 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. "We plan to stay open through the holidays and then make a decision about winter hours," Belloc told Harbor Country News.
Next door at 102 N. Elm St., Viola Café reopened June 9 under new owners, including Scott King. Chef Shelley Young runs a Southern-Creole menu, as the Herald-Palladium reported. Both are the kind of storefronts the Snowflake Stroll needs.
After dark, the season belongs to The Acorn. Its listings run from early November through the week before Christmas:
The venue is also between leaders. In September it announced that executive director Ashley Magnus was leaving after a stretch of growth, and the board said transition details would follow. Show dates can change, so check The Acorn's ticket page before you plan a night around one.
The work continues past the holidays. The DDA's landscaping committee is already working on improvements for next summer. The village's Maple Street streetscape plan is still in design. It calls for sidewalk and pedestrian-safety upgrades plus seating, planters, trees and bike racks, with phases planned for spring and summer 2027 and spring and summer 2028. On August 27, Berrien County approved transferring about 21 acres of swampland to the village for $105 so it can expand its park space.
The new sidewalks, park land and benches all come through the same village government that replaced the Hickory Street viaduct, with the DDA, which is buying this year's Halloween candy, handling the downtown pieces. You can follow every one of them on the village's current projects page.
If you're crossing the Kramer bridge on your way to the stroll or a December show and wondering what's changing around town, the Choose Chad Team keeps up with Three Oaks news all year and is always glad to talk about it. Let's Connect.
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