Good morning, lakeshore. The long weekend's behind us and summer has finally stopped pretending. Baseball's back at Marsh Field tonight, and down at the beach The Deck is throwing a Taylor Swift night with Lake Michigan doing the lighting. Friday's going to be wet, but don't let it fool you. Sunday is shaping up to be the first real beach day of the year, and you've earned it.

In this week’s Lowdown:

Let’s get into it.

- The Lakeshore Lowdown

The Deck has been Muskegon's beach living room since 2014. You order brisket with sand between your toes, watch the sun drop into Lake Michigan, and a band plays a few feet away the whole time. Back in 2017, Thrillist named it one of the best beach bars in America, and it was the only Michigan spot to make the list.

This Friday it goes full pop. The Ladies Night takes the stage at 7pm with a set built around Taylor Swift and the rest of the pop heavy hitters. Expect friendship bracelets in the sand and a few hundred people screaming every word to "Cruel Summer" with the actual lake behind them. Bring the Swifties in your life. Bring a cardigan too, because the lake breeze does not care what era you are in.

One honest heads up: Friday's forecast is wet, and live music at The Deck runs weather permitting. Check their socials before you load up the car. If the rain holds off, this is the summer kickoff the beach has been waiting for. If it does not, Union Guns brings the country on Saturday and the Westside Soul Surfers close things out Sunday at 5pm.

Friday's the soggy one. Rain chances sit around 75 percent with a high near 75, so the umbrella earns its keep. Saturday dries out fast and climbs into the upper 70s with just a stray shower on the radar. Then Sunday shows up and steals the whole weekend with wall-to-wall sun and a high near 86.

Lake Michigan's still doing its early June thing at about 55 degrees, cold enough to wake you all the way up. Save the real swim for a warmer week and keep it to ankles for now.

Verdict: Friday's a wash, but Saturday's fine and Sunday is the one to clear your schedule for.

7 Day Glance: Friday rolls in cool and rainy in the mid 70s. Saturday bounces back to the upper 70s and mostly dry. Sunday's the showpiece, sunny and in the mid 80s. Early next week is trending warm and summery, so the good stretch looks like it holds.

Pride takes over downtown Saturday. The Muskegon Pride Festival fills Hackley Park starting at 11am, and the party keeps going that night with the Pride After Dark Glow Party and drag show.

And if the kids need somewhere dry to burn energy, the Muskegon Heritage Museum hosts a free community day Saturday with a trucking theme.

Looking ahead a week: Taste of Muskegon takes over Hackley Park next weekend, June 12 and 13. It's the city's big summer food festival, where local restaurants and food trucks set up in the park and you graze your way through an afternoon downtown. Worth keeping that weekend open.

The Deck runs all weekend, with Friday's Taylor Swift night leading it off (more above 👀).

Friday's Parties in the Park doubles as a free concert at Hackley Park, with Fleetwood 2 The Max running the Fleetwood Mac catalog start to finish.

In Grand Haven, Music on the Grand is back on the waterfront on Wednesday evenings. Katy Couch and the Lazy Boys play the next one on June 10, so pack a lawn chair if you want to stretch the music week a little longer.

Friday's rain and wind will leave the big lake choppy and gray, so it's not a beach day. Sunday's the flip, with calm air and sun that finally makes a full afternoon on the sand worth it.

Plan around it. Sunday's your paddle day if you kayak or paddleboard out of Pere Marquette, and it's the move for anyone who wants to walk the channel out to the South Pierhead Light.

For the anglers: it's go time. Out on the big lake the salmon bite is picking up, with coho and kings on the move and brown trout holding closer to shore, so trolling spoons in 40 to 90 feet is the early June play off both Muskegon and Grand Haven. Pier crews can still scratch out a few fish on the calmer mornings. If the lake's too rough, and it will be Friday, Muskegon Lake is the smarter call, with the water in the low 60s and the walleye and smallmouth both active. Call a local bait shop for the hot color before you launch.

Whatever you do, glance at the warning beacons on the Kite Shack and Pere Marquette buildings before you get in, and let the water earn its warmth a few more weeks before you dive in headfirst.

A little tough news to lead with: The Lucky Bucket in Grand Haven has announced it will not open for the 2026 season, so cross that one off your summer seafood list for now.

Better news at the airport. Joe-Lee's Crosswinds Café just opened inside Muskegon County Airport, and it is open to everyone, not just travelers. It is scratch cooking for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, with free parking right out front.

And the Grand Haven Farmers Market is back at Chinook Pier on Saturdays, which means the first local strawberries and early greens are within reach.

Summer baseball is back. The Muskegon Clippers open their season Friday at 6:35pm at Marsh Field, hosting the Michigan Monarchs, and they play at home again Saturday night.

On the prep side, it's tournament time. North Muskegon softball is rolling. Braedi Baker and the Norse beat Oakridge 4-1 to win the Division 2 district title at Oakridge on Saturday, May 30, ending a strong season for the Eagles, who finished 15-10. Over in Division 3, Ravenna carries a perfect record and a top ranking into its own bracket. Both play regionals this Saturday, so by the time Tuesday's Lowdown lands we'll know who's still standing.

Walk into Patricia's Chocolate in downtown Grand Haven on a Saturday afternoon and you might catch Patty Christopher down in the basement, chipping chocolate by hand. That is the whole appeal here. Everything’s made right there on site, in small batches, by someone who clearly cares how it turns out. It’s a good detour after a lap through the farmers market. If you’ve walked past it a hundred times without going in, fix that this weekend.

Pigeon Hill used to be a real place. It was a massive sand dune on the Muskegon shoreline, named for the thousands of passenger pigeons that once roosted there, a bird that no longer exists anywhere on earth. In the early 1900s, the whole dune was mined away and hauled off for industrial sand, grain by grain, until it was simply gone. Stand near Harbour Towne today and you are where a small mountain used to be. Two things vanished from that spot, the birds and the hill itself, and almost nobody driving past would ever know.

That's the weekend. Go make some noise, eat something good with the lake in view, and we will catch you Tuesday.

-The Lakeshore Lowdown