Good morning, lakeshore. Saturday's setting up to be a stunner, The Deck has live music every single night, and Hackley Park is about to smell like every food truck in West Michigan. If you've been waiting for summer to actually show up, this is your weekend.

In this week’s Lowdown:

Let’s get into it.

- The Lakeshore Lowdown

That red light at the end of the pier? Volunteers keep it standing.

You've walked past it a hundred times. The red lighthouse on the Muskegon pier is the photo on half the postcards in town. But the door's actually open, and the people who keep it that way do it for free.

Back in 2010, the Michigan Lighthouse Conservancy was granted ownership of the South Breakwater and Pierhead Lights through the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act. The nonprofit has run the 1903 Pierhead Light ever since, and every summer since 2015 it's been open for tours. Thirty volunteers make that happen. They give guided climbs and tend the gift shop, all on their own time. When the building needs a minor repair, they handle that too.

The history is worth the climb. The lantern room up top came from an older 1870 lighthouse, built in Wisconsin, then shipped here and assembled piece by piece. It wore white until 1917, when it got the red coat we know now. The pier below saw the City of Muskegon go down in 1919, the worst shipwreck this town has known.

Five bucks gets you to the top. Tour fees and gift shop sales now fund a $1.6 million restoration of the Breakwater Light next door. Every climb helps.

Tours run Friday through Monday, 1 to 5 PM. Mark August 1st too! The Bright Lights Festival takes over the pier from 1 to 5 with games and entertainment. Want to lend a hand? Volunteers can reach Kim Lange at [email protected]. More at SaveOurLight.org

Friday eases in cloudy and calm with a high near 72 and basically no rain to worry about. Then Saturday flips the switch: sun, a high pushing 78, and a north breeze around 10 mph. That's a beach day, plain and simple. Sunday backs off into the mid-60s with a few showers creeping in, so front-load your weekend toward Saturday.

Out on the lake, the water's sitting around 60 degrees and waves are running about a foot, with green flags and low swim risk along the Muskegon and Grand Haven beaches. Sixty is still cold enough to steal your breath, so wade in slow and keep an eye on the kids near the pier.

The verdict: Saturday's your move. Pack the cooler and grab a spot in the sand early.

7 Day Glance: Friday opens at 72 with some sun breaking through, then Saturday peaks at a gorgeous 78 and full sun. Sunday cools to 64 with scattered showers, and Monday sits at 68 as the clouds clear out. The back half of the week steadies in the low 70s, with 71 on Tuesday, 74 Wednesday, and 73 Thursday before a stray shower rolls through.

The big one is right downtown. Taste of Muskegon takes over Hackley Park on Friday and Saturday for its 20th year. There will be food from local spots like Hamburger Mikey, Navarro's, and Unruly Kitchen, plus newcomers like The Thirsty Mitten and Mama Thai's. Tastes run a dollar a ticket, there's live music all weekend including an AC/DC tribute band, and the kids zone has face painting and the Critter Barn. Bring cash and an empty stomach.

Saturday night, the Muskegon Museum of Art throws its 114th Anniversary Gala from 5:30 to 11, the museum's big annual fundraiser with live music, dancing, and raffles. It's a ticketed event, so grab yours ahead if you want in.

And if the lighthouse story up top got you curious, the Pierhead Light is open for tours Friday through Monday, 1 to 5, just five bucks to climb.

The Deck has live music every single night this weekend, so Pere Marquette Beach is your safest bet. Friday at 7, Be Kind Rewind brings the ultimate 90s throwback, all the stuff you forgot you knew every word to. Saturday keeps rolling with Post Fontaine doing singer-songwriter covers at 2, then Global Village turning the sand into a dance floor at 7. Sunday's a two-fer if you're stretching it out, with the Carl Webb Band at noon and Sushi Roll closing things down at 5.

The biggest stage in town this weekend is right at Taste, free with your tickets. Friday night winds up with Let There Be Rock, an early-AC/DC tribute that hits at 8. Saturday brings the Westside Soul Surfers and their horns at 5, then Rockstar closes the festival with a full arena-rock throwback at 7:30. Good reason to stick around after you eat.

Across the channel in Grand Haven, Odd Side Ales runs its Friday Night Live series in the old piano factory downtown. Great beer, good room, and a different act each week.

Conditions are about as friendly as the big lake gets this weekend. Saturday is the day to be on the sand, full sun and a light north breeze, so stake out a spot at Pere Marquette or Grand Haven State Park early.

Flat water like this is made for paddling. Pull the kayak or the board out onto Muskegon Lake or the channel, where you'll stay out of the bigger Lake Michigan swell and still get those open-water views. If you'd rather stay dry, the pier walk out to the lighthouse is hard to beat on a clear evening.

For the anglers: Fishing's a mixed bag right now. Pier action has slowed, but boat anglers are still trolling the shoreline for steelhead and brown trout, and the kings are always a June wildcard if you can find the baitfish. Orange spoons and spawn have been the go-to off the piers.

The lake's still cold under that calm surface, so ease in slow and keep the little ones close. Otherwise, soak up the quiet before the summer crowds hit.

If you haven't made it out to BoDocks yet, this is the weekend. The old Dockers spot at Harbour Towne Marina got a full gut-and-rebuild and reopened this spring as BoDocks Marina Bar and Grill, from the same Harris Hospitality crew behind The Deck and Pints and Quarts. The deck out back looks straight across Muskegon Lake, they open for lunch at noon, and the lemon-pepper chicken sandwich with their house sauce and kettle chips is an easy first order. Worth the trip just for the view.

Over in Grand Haven, Grand Armory Brewing is your move downtown. Twenty taps in the historic 1905 Armory building, including the fan-favorite Nutter Your Business and a bright Grapefruit IPA, with food and live music most days. The room itself, all original hardwood, is half the reason to go.

And a midweek tip worth planning around. Legends on Western in Muskegon runs Wine on Western every Wednesday from 4 to 9. You get a 9-ounce pour for the price of a 6, plus a small-plates menu with stuff like the caprese and a charcuterie board for fourteen bucks. A nice low-key reason to get out on a weeknight.

Grand Haven softball is the story of the moment. The Buccaneers won the program's first-ever regional title, knocking off top-ranked Hudsonville, then outlasted Traverse City Central in a 10-inning quarterfinal to reach the state semifinals at MSU's Secchia Stadium for the first time ever. Sixth-ranked at 33-7-1, it's the deepest run this program has made. And they're not done. The Bucs beat Macomb Dakota 8-3 on Thursday to reach the Division 1 state final, with senior ace Lorelei Chciuk striking out 15 and driving in two of her own. Grand Haven plays for the championship Saturday at 10 a.m. Set your weekend around it.

On the Muskegon side, North Muskegon softball grabbed its first district title since 2021, behind junior ace Braedi Baker, who has been close to untouchable in the circle all spring. The Norse topped Ludington and then host Oakridge to take the crown. Oakridge closed a solid run at 15-10.

A little reflected glory from the rink, too. The Muskegon Lumberjacks came up just short of a second straight Clark Cup, falling 4-3 in double overtime to Sioux Falls in the final. Heartbreaker of a finish, but back-to-back trips to the title series is no small thing for this program.

Some of the best local businesses start with someone deciding to bet on themselves. That's the story behind Jay's Lakeshore Transportation Service, launched this April by a born-and-raised Grand Haven guy, class of 2002, after eight years at the post office that left him burned out and ready for something of his own.

The pitch is simple: Grand Haven is a seasonal town with no taxi service, and people need a reliable ride.

What sets him apart is the pickup truck. He'll run you home on a Friday night and grab a load of mulch from Home Depot on a Saturday morning, as happy moving your building supplies as he is moving you. The part he cares about most is the safe ride home. Having come through his own struggles with alcohol earlier in life, he sees getting someone home who might otherwise have driven as the whole point. Text is the quickest way to reach him, and he's got a surgery at the end of the month with a short recovery, so he may line up a sub driver or two to keep appointments covered.

Every snowboarder on every mountain owes a little something to a Muskegon garage. On Christmas Day in 1965, local engineer Sherm Poppen bolted two of his kids' skis together so his daughters could surf down the Lake Michigan dunes behind the house. His wife Nancy watched them go and called it snurfing, and just like that the Snurfer was born. Brunswick built them across town out of old bowling-lane wood, sold close to a million of them, and the thing basically lit the fuse on snowboarding as we know it. The original lives in the Smithsonian now, but Sherm's Turning Point sculpture still stands downtown at Western and Fourth, right where it belongs.

Saturday's shaping up to be a beach day we've waited all winter for. So grab a ticket or six at Taste, get your toes in the sand, and we'll catch you out there.

We’ll see you Tuesday.

-The Lakeshore Lowdown
Email: [email protected]