DETROIT (FOX 2) – It’s a true sign of the holidays annual tree lighting ceremony in downtown Detroit. At the same time, a security plan with many moving parts has been ongoing for many months.

Thousands are expected to be all huddled downtown, around the stunning 66-foot Michigan-grown King Spruce, for the official tree lighting ceremony that has been going on for 21 years.

“It looks like there’s going to be a lot of people here. We’re estimating 50,000,” said Wayne County Sheriff Raphael Washington. “Another day to have a great time. We know how to do this.”

Officials from the Detroit Police Department, Wayne County Sheriff’s Office and Michigan State Police rolled out their security plan for the festivities, which are set to begin Friday night starting at 4 p.m.

In 2023 it was great with no problems. But the same could not be said of the year before.

“The year before that, there were a lot of teenagers, you know, running around, and we don’t mind that, but it’s more like unsupervised teenagers,” Detroit interim chief Todd Bettison said.

Two shootings involving teenagers took place near all the action back in 2022. A 15-year-old was shot in the neck, another in the leg. Both shootings were related.

Bettison says if there’s a rubric to their safety plan, it would be that no unaccompanied minors are allowed to attend the event. It stands for 17 years and younger.

“I’m asking parents to make sure you don’t just drop your kids off and actually come down, enjoy the festivities and supervise them,” Bettison said.

A long list of what not to bring has been made with the big ones being no weapons of any kind, pets or drones. Navigating that is easy compared to the road closures in the greater Campus Martius area from Thursday to early Saturday morning.

“We ask for your patience, because when you see streets closed now, there will be a lot of closures then,” Washington said.

Extra police resources to quell the crowds, but Detroiters will see no change in their services.

“We have to make sure that the neighborhoods are covered and that its adequate officers are still in the neighborhoods of our city so that these police runs are answered, so I’m not neglecting anything, we’ve got everything covered,” Bettison said.