Good morning, lakeshore. The Coast Guard Festival is finally, actually here, and Grand Haven's about to get loud in the best way for the next week and a half. We've got your full opening weekend guide, a Clippers season that comes down to one home game tonight, and a ghost story that's allegedly been haunting Grand Haven's oldest cemetery for about a century.

In this week’s Lowdown:

Let’s get into it.

- Sam Johnson, The Lakeshore Lowdown

Grand Haven's biggest week of the summer is finally here. The Coast Guard Festival opened quietly Thursday, but the real energy kicks in tonight when Mega 80's takes the Lynne Sherwood Waterfront Stadium stage at 6:30 ($20 at the gate). Saturday is packed start to finish: the Coast Guard City USA Run kicks things off at 7:30 a.m., the Kids Parade rolls through downtown at 10:30, and the Cardboard Boat Race Competition follows at the marina at 1:30, always one of the festival's best free-to-watch spectacles.

Sunday slows the pace a touch, with the Cruise-In Car Show running 7:30 to 2:30, a Pancake Breakfast at 8, and the Flea on Seventh market from 10 to 4, plus a Coast Guard Community Picnic from noon to 3.

None of that even touches the ships yet. Coast Guard cutters don't sail into the channel until Ship Arrivals on July 27, with tours running daily after that, building toward the festival's big finish on July 31 and the Grand Parade on August 1.

Here's the only thing you really need to plan around this weekend: parking. Washington Avenue fills fast and the side streets go quick right behind it, so get downtown early if you want to walk instead of circle.

Friday's shaping up close to ideal for opening night, sunny and warm with a high near 78 and lows dropping into the mid-50s overnight. Winds stay light out of the south, and skies clear out completely by evening for the Mega 80's crowd.

Lake Michigan is sitting around 69 degrees off Muskegon, brisk but very swimmable once you're in. Waves stay calm at a foot or less through Friday, though Saturday brings a swing: southwest winds build to 15 to 20 knots through the day and waves climb to 3 to 5 feet by afternoon, so the piers and swim areas get rougher fast.

The verdict: Friday is your best beach day of the stretch. Get your swimming in early Saturday before the wind and waves pick up, and expect a bumpier ride if you're heading out on a boat Saturday afternoon.

7 Day Glance: Saturday climbs into the upper 70s with more humidity and a stray afternoon storm possible as winds build out of the southwest. Sunday jumps into the mid-80s with lingering thunderstorm chances before winds swing west and settle the waves back down. The warm, sticky stretch holds through Monday and Tuesday with highs in the low-to-mid 80s and a real shot at afternoon storms, before drier air moves in and knocks things back to the upper 70s and low 80s by Wednesday and Thursday.

Weather sourced from the National Weather Service the day prior to this issue.

The Muskegon County Fair wraps up its run at the Fruitport fairgrounds this Saturday, and they're saving some of the best for last. Grab pancakes at 7:30 in the morning, bid on baked goods at 10, then stick around for the Demolition Derby at 5, always the loudest way to close out fair week.

Saturday morning in Grand Haven belongs to the kids first. The Kids Parade rolls through downtown at 10:30, then the action shifts to the marina at 1:30 for the Cardboard Boat Race Competition, where homemade vessels either glide across the water or spectacularly do not.

Sunday brings the Flea on Seventh market to downtown Grand Haven from 10 to 4, a solid mix of vintage finds and local makers, right around the corner from the Coast Guard Community Picnic running noon to 3 at the same time.

If you only catch one Coast Guard Festival concert this year, make it Saturday. Kings of Queen brings the full theatrical Queen experience to the Lynne Sherwood Waterfront Stadium stage at 6:30, tickets $20 at the gate.

On the Muskegon side, The Deck's got Sushi Roll on the sand tonight at 7, always a good time whether you're dancing in the sand or watching from a beach chair.

And out at BoDocks on Harbor Town Marina, Main Street Dueling Pianos takes over tonight from 7 to 10, request-driven and rowdy in the best way.

Boaters and paddlers get one more calm stretch before the Coast Guard ships take over the channel next week. Friday's about as easy as it gets, with waves at a foot or less and light south winds. Saturday's a different story: southwest winds build to 15 to 20 knots through the day and waves climb to 3 to 5 feet by afternoon, so get your time on Muskegon Lake or a paddle in early if you can. Sunday swings the wind around to the west and settles things back down to a foot or three, though a stray thunderstorm is possible.

For the anglers: King salmon are showing up in bigger numbers in the harbor as the run builds, and most boats working Lake Michigan are marking fish 40 feet down or deeper as the lake stratifies for summer. If you're set up on Muskegon Lake instead, jigging and trolling are still putting a mixed bag of walleye, perch, and bluegill in the boat.

Zini soft-launches in Muskegon this month, an Asian-inspired small plates spot pairing tapa-style dishes with flavored martinis from founder Kavy Lenon. Reservations for the soft opening are already up if you want an early taste before the official mid-to-late August debut.

Over on Western Avenue, Legends Bar & Grill runs Wine on Western every Wednesday from 4 to 9, a 9-ounce pour priced like a 6-ounce, which pairs well with the charcuterie board or the ahi tuna off their small-plates menu.

In Grand Haven, Blue Porch Bar & Grill has quietly become the spot to watch a game, thanks to the largest TV wall in town and a menu built around smash burgers, smoked wings, and a "Wall of Heat" for anyone chasing a dare.

The whole Clippers season comes down to this weekend. Muskegon and Flag City are deadlocked at 19-19 atop the North Division, and the Clippers host their final home game of the season tonight at 6:35 on Fan Appreciation Night, facing the Michigan Monarchs at Marsh Field before closing the series on the road. Win the weekend and Muskegon punches its ticket to next week's four-team playoffs, and the head-to-head tiebreaker favors the Clippers if it comes down to identical records with Flag City. Head coach Brian Wright called it a "different kind of season," and after sending seven players to the league all-star game last week, he likes his team's chances heading in.

Jonathan Jelks and his partners opened Motu Lakeshore Prohibition in Muskegon a few weeks ago, a wine bar and cocktail lounge built around the idea that a night out should feel like a whole experience, not just a drink. The lounge runs theme nights nearly constantly, Motown one week, Sinatra the next, then classic rock or a surprise Britney Spears set, alongside rotating art galleries spotlighting homegrown Muskegon artists. Jelks says the energy of the city itself is what sold him on opening here. Open Wednesday through Sunday, it's worth a stop if you want your evening out to come with a soundtrack and a story.

Lake Forest Cemetery in Grand Haven holds one of the lakeshore's oldest ghost stories, and it centers on Reverend William M. Ferry, the city's founding father and builder of its first permanent home, now known as the Kirby House. Legend has it a blue figure still walks the cemetery grounds at night, watching over the hillside plot where Ferry and his family are buried, reachable only by a narrow, winding staircase. Locals have swapped stories about the figure for generations, and whether or not you believe a word of it, there's something fitting about a founder still keeping watch over the town he helped build, especially during the one week a year the whole city turns out to celebrate its history.

That's the weekend, lakeshore. Get downtown early, keep your sunscreen on hand, and enjoy the first taste of what ten straight days of Coast Guard Festival feels like.

We’ll see you Tuesday.

-The Lakeshore Lowdown
Email: [email protected]