Good morning, lakeshore. The lake's warming up, the concert series are rolling, and Hackley Park is about to smell like every food truck in West Michigan. If you've been waiting for the season to start, this is your week.

In this week’s Lowdown:

Let’s get into it.

- The Lakeshore Lowdown

Grand Haven figured out summer a long time ago. Every Wednesday from now through late August, the waterfront fills with lawn chairs and a band plays for free at Lynne Sherwood Waterfront Stadium. It's called Music on the Grand, and plenty of locals quietly build their week around it.

Here's tomorrow night. Katy Couch and the Lazy Boys take the stage at 7, right on the channel at 1 N. Harbor Drive. Admission is zero. Bring a chair and whatever's in the cooler. The band plays till 9 while the sun drops over the water.

The lineup runs all summer. Carl Webb Band on the 17th, then Rock Shop Band on the 24th, and it keeps going through August. Show up every week and you'll never catch the same act twice.

One move the regulars make…stick around after the last song. The fountain show lights up down the boardwalk once it gets dark, so the night doesn't have to end when the music does.

Pack the chair. We'll see you on the water.

Pack the patience early. Tuesday opens gray and wet, with rain likely through the day, a high near 76, and a breezy southwest wind. It's a stay-inside-and-plan kind of morning, which is fine, because the good stuff is right behind it.

Midweek is the payoff. Wednesday dries out and climbs into the mid-80s, the warmest day of the run, and that lines up perfectly for Music on the Grand by the river that night. Lows settle in the low 60s, so the evening on the waterfront stays comfortable well after the sun drops. Thursday drags some scattered storms back and cools us into the upper 70s, then Friday settles dry again.

Out on the lake, the water's sitting around 63 degrees. Cold enough to wake you up, past the teeth-chatter stage. Waves should run light, a foot or two, calm enough for a paddle on a settled afternoon.

The verdict: ride out Tuesday's rain, then get outside Wednesday while it's warm and dry. That's your window.

7 Day Glance: Tuesday starts wet at 76 with an overnight low near 62. Wednesday is the warm one, mostly sunny and up to 86 before dropping to 64 after dark. Thursday cools to 77 with scattered storms rolling through, then Friday clears and settles at a milder 74. The weekend looks steady. Saturday lands around 76 and mostly sunny, Sunday splits sun and clouds near 78, and Monday warms back into the low 80s to start the next week.

The big one is Taste of Muskegon, back at Hackley Park for its 20th year on Friday and Saturday, June 12 and 13. Locally owned restaurants and food trucks take over downtown, with music running all weekend. Friday night wraps with a free outdoor concert headlined by an AC/DC tribute. Twenty years in, this one's the unofficial start of Muskegon's summer.

Over in Grand Haven, the Farmers Market is rolling again at Chinook Pier, Wednesdays and Saturdays from 8 to 1. This is the first season the vendors run it themselves, after the Chamber stepped back from operating the Wednesday and Saturday markets, so the people growing the food are now the ones running the show. Worth a Wednesday stop before the day heats up.

Got kids at home? The Literacy Carnival lands Saturday afternoon over on Valley Street. Expect games and free books, plus an easy way to keep them reading into the summer.

The Deck on Pere Marquette barely takes a night off. Sets start at 6 most weeknights. Innuendo brings Grand Rapids rock tonight, then Zion Lion's reggae lands Wednesday. Melophobix plays Thursday, and the weekend takes it from there. Friday it's Be Kind Rewind, a 90's tribute act, at 7. Saturday doubles up with Post Fontaine at 2 and Global Village at 7. Sunday winds down on the Carl Webb Band at noon and Sushi Roll at 5. That's a mouthful, and we're not even talking about the Dirty South Nachos.

Over on Muskegon Lake, BoDocks at Harbor Town has its own run going. The Steve Hilger Blues Trio plays Friday from 7 to 10. Tipsy Roosters take Saturday night, then HWT closes things out Sunday at 5. Same water Dockers always had, new name on the deck.

In Grand Haven, Odd Side Ales keeps its Friday Night Live series going at the downtown taproom on Washington. Grab a beer and catch a local act, with the boardwalk a short walk away.

The water's still on the cool side, but it's climbing, and that calm midweek stretch is your opening. Wednesday looks like the pick, warm and light on the wind, which makes for easy paddling on Muskegon Lake or a flatwater run through the channel. If you'd rather keep your feet dry, the Grand Haven pier and boardwalk are built for an evening walk once the sun drops.

Beach days are back though. Pere Marquette and Grand Haven State Park are both in full summer swing, though the lake's cold enough that the first plunge will get your attention. Watch the flags and check the beacons before you swim, especially when the wind swings onshore.

For the anglers: June's prime time out on the big lake. Charters out of Muskegon and Grand Haven are trolling deep for kings, with steelhead and lake trout in the mix, while the piers and the Grand River near the channel give up smallmouth and the occasional walleye. The bite moves with the wind and water temp, so check a current report before you load the cooler.

Get out Wednesday while it’s calm. The weekend will be busier.

If you haven't made it to Whipped Cafe & Creamery yet, summer's the nudge. The Grand Haven spot on Beechtree grew out of the Whipped food truck and is now a brick-and-mortar with cones and creamery treats built for this kind of heat. It sits on the east side, away from the Washington Street crush.

Out on Muskegon Lake, Muskegon Brewing Co. is worth the trip to Adelaide Pointe. The patio looks straight down the water, and the beer's brewed by Pigeon Hill under the Muskegon Brewing label. Pull up by boat and they'll bring food right out to you.

Taste of Muskegon takes over Hackley this weekend, and that's a lot of plates to get through.

Grand Haven softball is having the spring of its life. On Saturday the Buccaneers won the first regional title in program history, rallying from a 4-0 hole to beat host Rockford 10-4 before knocking off top-ranked Hudsonville 3-1 in the final. Senior Lorelei Chciuk threw a no-hitter in the championship game, and Bella Korf homered twice on the day.

It's not over either. Grand Haven (32-7-1) plays Traverse City Central in a state quarterfinal this afternoon at 4 at Central Michigan's Margo Jonker Stadium. If you're reading this over coffee, the Bucs are a few hours from the biggest game the program's ever played.

They're not the only Grand Haven team making history. The boys volleyball squad just brought home the program's first-ever state championship. Whatever's in the water down there, it's working.

On the Muskegon side, summer ball is back. The Clippers have opened their Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League season at Marsh Field, the historic 1916 ballpark downtown. Cheap tickets and good baseball on a warm night. Hard to beat.

Vince Coleman and Bishop Davis played varsity football together at Mona Shores. The two recent grads now run VAB Auto Detailing, a mobile setup that comes to you. Between beach sand and highway bugs, summer's when a car takes the most abuse. If yours is looking rough, give the guys a call. Quick turnaround, and the reviews say they do it right.

After World War II, a Grand Haven dentist named Bill Creason came home with an idea he couldn't shake. He'd seen a small fountain set to music while serving overseas, and he wanted one for his own town's undeveloped waterfront. So in 1962, volunteers built it into the side of a sand dune across the river for about fifty grand, and for a while it was the largest musical fountain of its kind in the world. More than sixty years later, the Grand Haven Musical Fountain still lights up the water every night at dusk from Memorial Day through Labor Day, free.

Today gets the rain. Wednesday gets the payoff. Find a concert, catch a sunset, and don't waste the good weather when it shows up.

We’ll see you Friday.

-The Lakeshore Lowdown
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