Good morning, lakeshore. The first full week of June landed and the whole place woke up at once. The patios are packed, the air smells like sunscreen and lake water, and somebody is already grilling at 11am. Parties in the Park returns to Hackley this Friday, the Clippers throw their first pitch of the season, and the Grand Haven Farmers Market reopens for the summer. This is the week it all turns on.

In this week's Lowdown:

Let’s get into it.

- The Lakeshore Lowdown

On the first Saturday after Memorial Day, Muskegon does something most cities only wish they could pull off. Hundreds of people get on bikes, ride the lakeshore path, and turn a pub crawl into a fundraiser. The Muskegon Pub Pedal hit its 20th year on Saturday, May 30, and it went exactly how you would hope.

Here is the part people forget. The whole thing is run by three sisters who live right here. No corporation invented this. They sell t-shirts, line up local bars and clubs as sponsored stops, and print the route and the stop list right on the back of the shirt, which doubles as your ticket. Over the last seven years they have raised more than $123,000 for Muskegon families who needed it.

The ride kicks off at noon at the Canary Inn, rolls down toward Lakeside and back, and wraps around six. Pigeon Hill was on the map again this year. The Vikings, the largest donor, match all their tips every year.

That is Muskegon. A place that gets on a bike for its neighbors.

Upper 70s, sun out, zero drama. That is the forecast for Muskegon and Grand Haven this week and there is nothing to complain about. Tuesday comes in at 78° under full sun. Wednesday holds at 76°. Thursday is the warm one, pushing 80°. East winds, light and easy. The first rain chance does not show up until Friday, and even then it is just a chance. This is a go-outside stretch with no conditions to negotiate around.

🌊 Lake callout: Lake Michigan is hovering around 62°F nearshore, cold but calm, with waves under a foot to start the week. Full beach breakdown below in On The Water.

Verdict: No excuses. Pere Marquette, Grand Haven State Beach, the pier, the channel. Pick one and go. The sun does not hang around all week up here and you already know that.

7 Day Glance: Tuesday 78° / clear. Wednesday 76° / sunny. Thursday 80° / clear and warm. Friday 73° / clouds rolling in, late stray shower. Saturday 75° / scattered showers. Sunday 76° / clearing by midday. Monday 80° / back into summer.

Parties in the Park is back, and that is the headline this week. Friday night at Hackley Park, Fleetwood 2 the Max brings the full Fleetwood Mac catalog to the covered stage while Noah Project hosts, and the whole thing is free from 5pm to 9pm with local food and craft beer on hand. Forty-one years running and it still pulls the whole town downtown.

If you want the water without the work, the Aquastar sunset cruises are running again out of Muskegon. Jungle Jim spins a beach soundtrack while the boat drinks flow and the sun drops over the channel.

Over in Grand Haven, the Farmers Market is back at Chinook Pier on Wednesday mornings. That means the first real local asparagus and greens of the season are finally within reach.

If you have kids, Grand Haven kicks off its summer reading season Saturday at Central Park. Bubbles, a DJ, live music, and yard games from 10am to 2pm, all free, an easy way to start a Saturday.

The Deck runs the table this weekend. Friday night, The Ladies Night brings a full Taylor Swift tribute to the beach from 7pm to 10pm, every era on the setlist, the whole crowd singing every word. Get there early, because that lot fills fast on a Swifty night.

Saturday keeps it loud. Union Guns takes the same beachside stage from 7pm to 10pm, so you do not even have to change your plans, just your shirt.

Sunday afternoon is a different animal. The Westside Soul Surfers, a ten-piece horn band that rolls through Steely Dan, Santana, Toto, and Etta James, hit the sand from 5 to 8 with the lake sitting right behind them. Bring a chair and let the horns do the work. Three straight nights of music on the beach, which is exactly how June is supposed to feel.

Grand Haven counters with Music on the Grand. The free concert series is back at Lynne Sherwood Waterfront Stadium on Wednesday evenings, so you get live music, riverfront views, and a lawn-chair sunset in one shot, running every Wednesday through August.

Want to stay downtown? Rake Beer Project has live music most nights and turns Friday into open mic, and Unruly usually has a weekend act going in the beer garden. Walk the Social District with a to-go cup and let the night find you.

The water is calm and the lake is open for business. Lake Michigan is sitting around 62 degrees nearshore with waves running under a foot early in the week. Flat, easy conditions for whatever you have in mind.

If you own a kayak or a paddleboard, this is your window. Muskegon Lake and the channel will be glass before any weekend wind shows up, so get out in the morning when it is quiet. If swimming is the plan, Pere Marquette and Grand Haven State Beach are both wide open. Sixty-two degrees is cold, but plenty doable if you commit and walk straight in instead of inching.

For the anglers: the boats are doing the work right now. Crews are trolling the shoreline for steelhead and brown trout, while the pier bite has slowed to a few browns on spawn and orange spoons. The kings are still a few weeks out, so treat this as the steelhead window.

Get out early while the water is flat. The weekend wind has other plans.

Patio season is officially open, and the lakefront seats are the move. Muskegon Brewing Co. out at Adelaide Pointe has the view to beat, with Pigeon Hill brewing the beer under the label and a wide deck looking straight out at Muskegon Lake. Grab a flight, take it outside, and watch the boats come in.

Over in Grand Haven, New Holland's Pinwheel Kitchen is built for a lakeshore summer. The legendary pepperoni pinwheels anchor the menu, but the Bacon Dill-icious version is the sleeper, and the house-made chipotle ranch has a cult following for a reason. They do not pour alcohol, so grab your box and walk it next door to the tasting room.

Back downtown, Pigeon Hill keeps the easiest deal in town going every Thursday: two beers and a full pizza, cheese, pepperoni, or meat lovers. Pair it with the Oatmeal Cream Pie on nitro and call it a night.

Baseball is back at Marsh Field. The Muskegon Clippers open their 2026 Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League season Friday, June 5, hosting the Michigan Monarchs at 6:35pm, then run it back at home Saturday for game two of opening weekend. This is a real piece of history, more on that at the bottom of the issue. Tickets run ten dollars for adults, seven for students and seniors, free for kids under five.

On the prep side, the spring tournament peaked over the weekend and the lakeshore stacked up hardware. Grand Haven softball ran the Division 1 district at West Ottawa, blanking Muskegon 15-0 and edging Reeths-Puffer 3-1 in the final. North Muskegon took the Division 2 crown at Oakridge behind Braedi Baker in the circle, topping the host Eagles 4-1 for its first district title since 2021. The Norse head to the Cedar Springs regional this Saturday against Allendale.

Track closed its season under the big lights. Grand Haven's girls placed 13th at the Division 1 state finals, led by a runner-up pole vault from Robbins, while the Buccaneer boys had already torn through their regional, Keiavion Korenstra sweeping the 100 and the 200. Off the pitch, Grand Haven opened district soccer with a 5-0 shutout of Jenison and Reeths-Puffer handled Cadillac 4-1.

Baseball handed the lakeshore a tougher exit. Mona Shores had clipped Rockford 5-4 in extra innings in the Friday Night Lights benefit game two weekends ago, but Rockford flipped the script when it mattered, ending the Sailors' season in the district semifinals on its way to the Division 1 district title.

Tucked into the industrial Watermark lofts downtown, The Coffee Factory is three local businesses sharing one space. You come for the MadCap coffee and the syrups they whip up fresh every week, then realize there is an independent bookstore, the Book Nook Too, and a vintage shop called Fuddy Duds Vintage Junque living in the same room. Community-driven since 2016. Go for the latte, leave with a paperback and a denim jacket you did not plan on.

Before the Clippers ever took the field, women did. The Muskegon Lassies played professional baseball at Marsh Field from 1946 to 1950, part of the same All-American Girls Professional Baseball League that "A League of Their Own" made famous. They were not a novelty act either. In 1947 they won the pennant behind Doris "Sammy" Sams, who threw a perfect game and was named the league's Most Valuable Player. Crowds packed close to 2,500 a night under brand-new light towers, and when you walk into Marsh Field this Friday for opening day, you are standing in the same place those women changed the game. Same dirt, same lights, eighty years later.

That's your week, lakeshore. Get to Marsh Field, find a spot on the beach before the wind shows up, and do not let a single one of these warm days go to waste. We will see you Friday.

-The Lakeshore Lowdown