Good morning, lakeshore. Tonight's storms are just clearing the stage, and the weekend more than makes up for them. Both towns are throwing art festivals on the very same days, and The Deck has live music on the beach every single night this week. If you've been waiting for summer to actually arrive, this is your weekend.

In this week’s Lowdown:

Let’s get into it.

- The Lakeshore Lowdown

Two cities, one art-soaked weekend.

Grand Haven goes first, opening its 65th Art Festival on Friday and turning Washington Avenue into an open-air gallery. Nearly 80 artists set up along the street, with hours running noon to 5 Friday, 10 to 5 Saturday, and 11 to 4 Sunday. It's the slower, more polished of the two, built for a coffee-in-hand stroll. Saturday brings Family Fun Day on Washington and Second from 10 to 2, so the kids get their own thing going.

Then point the car up to Muskegon, where the Lakeshore Art Festival goes big. Nearly 250 juried booths spread across Hackley Park and eight downtown blocks, both days 9 to 5. You'll find fine art tucked under the park's old trees and crafts plus artisan food running down Western, with street performers working the gaps between booths. New this year, Hackley Park joins the Social District, so you can browse with a drink in hand.

Smart play: do Grand Haven early while it's quiet, then roll up to Muskegon in the afternoon once you've earned a snack. Both shows are free. The only real cost is your step count and however much festival food you can talk yourself into.

Bumpy start, gorgeous finish. Storms roll through tonight with gusts pushing 28 mph, so batten down anything loose on the porch. Things settle from there. Wednesday shakes off the clouds, and the back half of the week turns into the good stuff, sunny and warming into the 70s by Friday.

Lake Michigan's still playing hard to get. The water's hovering around 63 degrees, swimmable if you're brave but not exactly bathwater yet. Look for rough, choppy surf early in the week while the wind howls, then calmer water as the weekend nears.

The verdict: hold your outdoor plans for Thursday on. The art fest weekend is lining up warm and bright, with only a slim chance of a stray shower sneaking through.

7 Day Glance: Tuesday hits 73 before evening storms knock the overnight down to 57. Wednesday climbs back to 70 with sun winning out by afternoon and a low near 58. Thursday turns sunny at 73, bottoming around 58. Friday is the pick of the week at 76 under big blue skies, dipping to 57 after dark. Saturday and Sunday both settle in the mid-70s with sun and clouds taking turns and lows near 56, ideal festival walking weather. Monday holds steady in the mid-70s to wrap the stretch.

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

Down in Grand Haven, NORA Kids Nights brings family fun back downtown on Tuesday evenings starting at 6, with hands-on activities and a low-key excuse to wander the shops while the kids burn off energy.

The Muskegon Farmers Market hits its summer stride Saturday, 8 to 2 on Western Ave and loaded with peak-season produce. It sits a block from the art fest, so you can grab fresh peaches and handmade pottery on the same downtown loop.

And lace up if you're the running type. The Trinity Health Seaway Run takes over Heritage Landing early Saturday, one of Muskegon's longest-running races and a real summer rite for locals. This year you might spot Rachel Kent out front setting the pace. She found running six years ago through the Run Muskegon community, and she's back for her second year as a Seaway pacer, the runner you chase when you're gunning for a goal time.

The Deck's beachfront stage runs all week. The Cheap Dates open Wednesday at 6, with Eric Aartema and Simon Panter hopping between genres as the sun drops. TTA takes over Friday at 7 and turns the sand into a dance floor, then a drummer named Scott closes things out with a percussion-heavy set Saturday at 2. Pay-to-park is enforced, so keep some singles handy.

Grand Haven holds down its midweek tradition with Music on the Grand. Rock Shop Band plays the Lynne Sherwood Waterfront Stadium on Wednesday at 7, free as always, lake breeze included. There's a donation bucket if you're feeling generous.

Got kids? The Deck adds free face painting Thursday at 5 ahead of Sonimanic's power-pop set, a built-in head start before the music kicks in.

Lake Michigan's too stirred up for a proper beach day right now, and that's exactly the opening. The chop keeps the charter boats docked, so lean into the protected water until the big lake mellows for the weekend. Muskegon Lake stays glassy when the shoreline gets testy, which makes this prime kayak and paddleboard time. Over in Grand Haven, the State Park pier is a fine spot to cast a line while the surf settles.

For the anglers: perch are finally turning on and sliding closer to shore, schooling in around 35 to 40 feet now. Salmon's playing stubborn and deep, though a few Chinook are reaching the boats that sneak out between blows. Pier casters are picking off the occasional freshwater drum on spoons.

Pizza news, and it's heading down the shoreline. Lakeside Pizza Co., the wood-fired spot that landed in Muskegon last fall, is opening a second location in downtown Grand Haven this summer. The new shop, The Slice Shoppe, goes the New York route with pizza by the slice at 38 Washington Ave. Same obsessive dough too, Italian flour and a 72-hour cold ferment, now folded into a grab-and-go slice. As the owners put it, when life gives you opportunity, you make pizza.

Thirsty in Muskegon? Pigeon Hill's Brewer's Lounge sits right on the Lakeshore Bike Trail with Muskegon Lake and the old LST 393 in view. Order a Shifting Sands IPA and let the patio swallow a summer afternoon.

Across in Grand Haven, Odd Side Ales pours crafted ales out of the old Story & Clark piano factory on Washington Ave. They don't run a kitchen, so it's BYO food from a neighbor down the block. The beer's the whole point anyway at Odd Side Ales.

Summer ball is the only game in town now, and the Clippers are giving Marsh Field plenty to cheer. Muskegon took two of three from the Hamilton Joes over the weekend, including a 12-6 thumping Friday night, before splitting Saturday's doubleheader. New skipper Brian Wright is running the show this summer, the Hall of Fame coach who just wrapped 45 years at Shelby High. The Clippers come home for three straight against the Lima Locos this weekend, Friday and Saturday at 6:35 and Sunday at 5:05. Beach all day, ballgame all night sounds about right.

The prep season's in the books, but the honors keep landing. Spring Lake's senior battery cleaned up on the Division 2 baseball All-State team, with pitcher Maddux Kipling headed to Michigan State and catcher Owen Smies bound for Calvin. Up in Montague, the Wildcats put two on the Division 3 squad, pitcher Eli Peterson and outfielder Cole Moss. Not a bad way to close the chapter.

Did you know Run Muskegon as the reason half the lakeshore laces up on Wednesday nights? The group has welcomed everyone from first-timers to seasoned marathoners since 2011, all of it built on one idea: every pace has a place. They gather at Pigeon Hill, head out together at 6:30, and nobody needs a membership to tag along. It's a nonprofit too, with proceeds from its Shamrock Shuffle and Turkey Trot funneled straight back into a healthier Muskegon. Less a running club than a standing invitation to get outside with good company.

Every night all summer, the dark hillside across the Grand River wakes up. A single jet of water shoots into the sky and a voice rolls out over the river: "Good evening, and welcome. I am the Grand Haven Musical Fountain." It's been doing this since 1962, when a local dentist named Bill Creason talked the town into building what stood for 36 years as the largest musical fountain on earth. Generations of kids have grown up sprawled on blankets at the waterfront, watching it dance to everything from Beethoven to Taylor Swift while the sun drops into the lake. Vegas eventually built a bigger one, but Grand Haven built the one you remember.

The storms clear out by Thursday, and then it's open season on summer. Catch an art fest by day, then let the fountain close out the night.

We’ll see you Friday.

-The Lakeshore Lowdown
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