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Morning Buzz: 5 things to know for November 17

Posted at 10:47 AM, Nov 17, 2017
and last updated 2017-11-17 10:47:55-05

1. The holiday celebrations are officially underway with the Tree Lighting Ceremony at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum.

About 1,000 people were there for the event, which included an a Capella group singing Christmas carols, along with hot chocolate and cookies from the Salvation Army.

The lobby of the For Museum also contains dozens of decorated trees and the public is invited to come in and vote for their favorite. The winner will be announced December 3 and they lobby will remain decorated through January 8.

2. Downtown Grand Rapids will be full of the Christmas spirit at the Art Van Santa Parade on Saturday.

The theme this year is "A Very Merry Mitten." There will be floats based on popular and classic holiday songs, marching bands, carolers, and performers, as well as a few familiar faces from Fox 17.

The parade starts at DeVos Place, and ends at the corner of Fulton and Monroe.

People will also have a chance to get their picture taken with Santa after the parade.

3. Laughter is the perfect medicine, but it also makes a great gift! Badges for LaughFest go on sale today!

The badges are priced at four different levels and allow people to create customized ticket options before the individual tickets go on sale.

The festival runs from March 8-18 and headliners include Trevor Noah, Weird Al Yankovic and many others.

Tickets are available at laughfestgr.org.

4. Tickets for Faith Hill and Tim McGraw's "Soul 2 Soul" tour also go on sale today.

The tour will stop at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids on June 7.

Tickets cost between $80 and $109, and are available at DeVos Place box offices, Ticketmaster.com, or phone.

If people order online, they'll get a free copy of their first ever album together, "The Rest of Our Life."

5. For the first time ever, Pringles is looking to become part of families' Thanksgiving traditions, rolling out eight new flavors based on traditional Turkey Day foods.

The new chips include a full spread: turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, creamed corn, green bean casserole, mac and cheese, and pumpkin pie.

The eight new snack staple flavors are presented in a TV dinner-like tray. Pringles suggests people flex those creative muscles to mix and match for a nice variety of choices.

Unfortunately, this is just a pilot taste test and isn't available in retail stores in 2017, but at least there's hope for the future of holiday snacking.