Good morning, lakeshore. For 25 years, Judy and John Waanders owned The Bookman, a bookstore in Grand Haven, and Judy spent decades as an educator in Grand Haven-area schools. When their family offered to do something meaningful for Loutit District Library, the library suggested the Makerspace it had wanted for a while. Now the lower level has 3D printers, a laser engraver, sewing machines and an art studio, and anyone can walk in Saturday from 10 AM to 2 PM.
In today’s Lowdown:
A free Addams Family matinee Sunday
North Muskegon puts 27 straight on the line
Michigan’s only Edward Hopper lives here
Let’s get into it.
- Sam Johnson, The Lakeshore Lowdown
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NORSE CODE
The streak meets the Bulldogs 🏈
North Muskegon hasn’t lost a WMC Rivers game since the conference split into two divisions in 2022. That’s 27 straight league wins and four straight titles. Tonight at Fred Jacks Memorial Field, Ravenna gets its shot at ending all of it.
Both teams are 6-1 overall and 4-0 in the Rivers, so the winner takes the division outright. Ravenna hasn’t won a conference title since 2001. Multiple West Michigan outlets picked it as their game of the week.
Watch No. 6. Senior Cullen Bartos, a Northwood commit, has 888 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns this season. Last year he took a kickoff 95 yards to the house against these same Bulldogs in a 36-29 win. He also carries a 4.0 GPA, which feels a little unfair.
Ravenna likes to line up in the T and run straight downhill. Bartos says the Norse need to hold their gaps and force the Bulldogs into something they don’t want to do. Bring a rain jacket and a real coat, because the wind is coming too. Win or lose, these two could meet again in the playoffs in a couple of weeks.
📍 Fred Jacks Memorial Field, North Muskegon
🗓️ Fri, Oct 16, 7 PM
🎉 Weekend Preview
Rain and wind tonight, sunshine and sweatshirts Saturday.
🎈 = family-friendly
All weekend
🎭 Company – The Beardsley, Fri-Sat 7:30 PM, Sun 3 PM. Closes Sat, Oct 24. Tickets
Friday
🌈 Dark Side of the Moon – The Frauenthal, 7:30 PM. The Pink Floyd laser show, $25 to $35.
🏈 Ravenna at North Muskegon – 7 PM. Details up top.
🧙 Witch’s Ball – Unruly Brewing, night one with a DJ.
Saturday
🎈🥕 Muskegon Farmers Market – 8 AM to 2 PM.
🎈🧵 Loutit Makerspace – Open 10 AM to 2 PM in Grand Haven. Hours and info
🏒 Throwback Night – Lumberjacks vs. Youngstown, Trinity Health Arena. Tickets
🧙 Witch’s Ball – Night two at Unruly.
Sunday
🥞 Sunday Brunch with Justin Audek – Rake Beer Project, 11 AM to 1 PM, free.
🎈🎃 The Addams Family – The Frauenthal, 3 PM, free. See Shore Things.
🦞 Cousin’s Maine Lobster – Unruly Brewing, 4 to 8 PM.
Coming up
🎸 Rock Variety Show – Unruly, Fri, Oct 23, $5.
🎤 Colton Dixon x Micah Tyler – The Frauenthal, Fri, Oct 23.
🎺 Dumpstaphunk – The Frauenthal, Thu, Oct 29.
🤠 Gary Allan – The Frauenthal, Fri, Oct 30.
☘️ Midnight in Ireland – Unruly, Sat, Oct 31. Irish acts from around noon to 7:30 PM, Belfast Gin headlines, then ZIP City at 8:30 PM.
🌊 Shore Things
🎃 Snap Snap – The Frauenthal is screening The Addams Family (1991) for free Sunday at 3 PM, with themed activities and film-inspired signature drinks. It’s rated PG-13, so use your judgment with the little ones. It’s free thanks to the Howmet Aerospace Foundation. Details
💀 Last Call for Skeletons – This is the final weekend to vote in Bones About Town. More than 150 decorated skeletons are scattered around downtown and Centertown Grand Haven, and voting closes at noon next Friday, Oct 23.
🦞 Shell Yeah – Cousin’s Maine Lobster parks its truck at Unruly Brewing on Sunday from 4 to 8 PM. Catch the Addams Family matinee at 3, then walk down Western for a lobster roll.
🏈 Local Sports
Mona Shores (6-1, 4-0) already owns a share of the OK Green and hosts Forest Hills Northern. Grand Haven (4-3) kept its playoff hopes alive with last week’s comeback and hosts Caledonia (5-2), while Spring Lake (4-3) is currently the last team in the Division 4 field heading into a tough one with Forest Hills Eastern.
Friday, Oct 16 (Kickoff at 7 PM):
Forest Hills Northern at Mona Shores
Caledonia at Grand Haven
Muskegon at Grand Rapids Union
Byron Center at Reeths-Puffer
Forest Hills Eastern at Spring Lake
Fruitport at Comstock Park
Fremont at Montague
Ludington at Whitehall
Oakridge at Orchard View
Muskegon Catholic Central at Auburn Hills Oakland Christian
Grand Rapids Sacred Heart at Muskegon Heights
Potterville at Holton
Around the county
⛳ Tee Time – Reeths-Puffer tees off today at the Division 2 girls golf finals at MSU’s Forest Akers West, with the final round Saturday.
⚽ Hat Trick or Treat – Fruitport’s Quincy McDaniels scored all three goals in a 3-1 win at rival Spring Lake to open Division 2 districts. The Trojans are chasing a fourth straight district title and play the Allendale-Coopersville winner Wednesday at 7 PM at Spring Lake.
⚽ District Dash – Mona Shores blanked Grandville 2-0 and gets the Grand Haven-Jenison winner Tuesday at 7 PM at Grandville. Reeths-Puffer beat Greenville 6-1 and faces Ludington Monday at 5 PM at Sparta.
⚽ Little Big Win – Division 4 Western Michigan Christian closed its regular season by beating Division 1 Grand Haven 2-1 on the Bucs’ own field Monday.
☀️ Weather Report
Friday 53 🌡️ 37 | 🌧️ | 50% | 💨 NW 15-25 kt
Saturday 54 🌡️ 35 | ☀️ | 0% | 💨 NW 10-15 kt
Sunday 60 🌡️ 50 | 🌤️ | 0% | 💨 S 10-15 kt
🌊 Waves 4 to 7 ft Friday, easing to 2 to 4 ft Saturday | 💧 Water low 50s
The verdict: Tonight is a rain-jacket-over-a-hoodie football night, and the piers are off limits with those waves. Saturday morning starts near freezing, but the sun shows up and sticks around through Sunday.
🎵 Live Music Picks
Rake has something three days straight, and Kirby House takes the late shift in Grand Haven.
Friday, Oct 16
Frauenthal | Dark Side of the Moon (Pink Floyd tribute) | 7:30 PM, $25-$35
Rake Beer Project | Open Mic w/ Bri Baron | 7-10 PM, free
Kirby House | DJ JC X-Treme | 9 PM-12:30 AM
Saturday, Oct 17
Rake Beer Project | Hexing, Snakeout & more | 8 PM, $10
Kirby House | Dolly Daggar | 9 PM-12:30 AM
Sunday, Oct 18
Rake Beer Project | Sunday Brunch ft. Justin Audek | 11 AM-1 PM, free
NOON RUSH
🌟Only in Muskegon and Grand Haven
Exactly one museum in Michigan owns an Edward Hopper painting, and it sits on Webster Avenue in Muskegon. New York Restaurant dates to about 1922, back when Hopper couldn’t make a living off his oil paintings and was taking commercial art jobs to get by. It shows a packed lunch-hour dining room, and among the crowd, a woman in a red hat who looks like she’s somewhere else entirely. In a 1937 letter to the museum, Hopper said he was trying to capture the “crowded glamour” of a New York restaurant at noon. Admission to the Muskegon Museum of Art is free every Thursday.
✅ Lowdown Essentials
📸 Follow us on Instagram @TheLakeshoreLowdown
That’s it for this issue.
Thanks for reading. If you make something at the Makerspace this weekend, send us a picture. The Waanders family will want to see it too. See you Tuesday.
