January 1, 2004
The Muskegon Chronicle
By Lynn Mooreand and Chad D. Lerch

As we usher in the New Year, it's a good time to look ahead to new opportunities -- and say goodbye to old friends.

In 2004, Muskegon's downtown no longer will host Cherry County Playhouse theatrical productions. But it may be home to a new professional basketball team.

While the new year will see the last debris from the Muskegon Mall demolition trucked off to a landfill, it also will bring new shopping opportunities.

Baroque masters, bicycling around Muskegon Lake and a new salmon festival all are in store for 2004.
And of course there's the new cross-lake ferry service to Milwaukee that will launch from the Lakeside neighborhood this summer.

Muskegon and Grand Haven will continue work on major new commercial developments.

Completion of Shoreline Drive in Muskegon this summer will allow continued development of the Edison Landing mixed-use residential and commercial development on Muskegon Lake at the site of the former Teledyne property.

In Grand Haven, 2004 will see the dirt turned for GrandWater, a $30 million commercial and residential development on 23 acres of former industrial land along the Grand River channel on the city's north side. The city already has purchased the property and will start looking for a developer to carry out the city's vision for the 23 acres along the Grand River channel, which includes a boardwalk, senior housing, commercial space and possibly a hotel.

There's lots to look forward to in 2004, and here's just a sample:

The Lake Express cross-lake ferry service to Milwaukee will begin June 1, providing up to 46 cars and 253 passengers a 2 1/2-hour trip to Milwaukee -- home of a major league baseball team, Summerfest, a major music festival, and, of course, breweries. The ferry will dock at Great Lakes Marina in Muskegon's Lakeside, where new tourist attractions inevitably will sprout in 2004.

Shoreline Drive, the new primary route through downtown Muskegon, will open by the end of July, bringing traffic closer to the Muskegon Lake shoreline and allowing for Muskegon and Webster avenues -- aka Seaway Drive -- to eventually return to their sleepy residential roots. Shoreline Drive "East" will connect the existing Shoreline Drive near Terrace Avenue to business route U.S. 31 near Eastern Avenue.

The Tri-Cities Historical Museum will open this spring at its new location in the former Steketee's building in the 200 block of Washington Avenue in Grand Haven. The 12,000-square-foot downtown landmark will give the museum more space to display historical artifacts.

A new Irish music celebration will be held in Muskegon in March by the same people who bring the Michigan Irish Music Festival to Heritage Landing each September. The St. Patrick's Irish Fest will be March 12-13 at the Henry Street Hall, 2300 Henry. It will offer Irish food and drink (Guinness beer) and music by Switchback -- the Irish Festival's unofficial "house band" -- and the Pub Runners, who also have performed at the Irish Music Festival.

A major art exhibition called "Pursuits and Pleasure: Baroque Paintings from the Detroit Institutes of Art" will be on display at the Muskegon Museum of Art from April 10 through July 3. Considered one of the biggest shows the art museum has ever hosted, the exhibition will include 35 17th and 18th century paintings by such European "Old Masters" as Thomas Gainsborough, Salvator Rosa, Giovanni Paolo Panini and Michael Sweerts.

Those attending the exhibition, and other events at the art museum, will have a new parking lot to use. The old Medical Arts Building at the corner of Clay Avenue and Second Street, which was torn down in 2003, will be the site of the new expanded parking for art lovers in 2004.

A Kohl's department store will open this spring at Lakes Crossing near The Lakes Mall on Harvey Street. Kohl's has many local devotees who now have to travel to Holland or the Grand Rapids area to stroll the discount department store's aisles. The store is due to open April 15.

The new Salmon & Song Fest is being organized by the Grand Haven-Spring Lake Visitor's and Convention Bureau. It will include a 5K "Salmon Run," an art exhibit, a gourmet salmon cook-off and educational activities promoting Michigan's waterways. It will be Sept. 17-19 along the Grand River channel in Grand Haven.

A Home Depot store is scheduled to open on the former Meijer Inc. property at the intersection of U.S. 31 and Jackson Street. The 103,000-square-foot home improvement store is expected to open in the spring.

A one-mile extension to Lakeshore Trail around Muskegon Lake will allow bicyclists, joggers and others to travel around the east end of the lake from North Muskegon to the Muskegon Family YMCA. The new segment, which will run from Fisherman's Landing to L.C. Walker Arena, is expected to be finished by Memorial Day. It will link existing paths leading from the arena to the YMCA and from Fisherman's Landing to a paved path and boardwalk across the Veterans Memorial Causeway to North Muskegon.

The completion of the Lakeside Trail in the Village of Spring Lake, with the final leg -- about 1,500 feet near Arby's on Savidge Street -- will be completed this fall. When it's finished, the trail will be 12 miles.

A $1.96 million renovation to the Spring Lake Village Hall will be completed in May. A rededication ceremony is scheduled June 15, the first day of the Spring Lake Heritage Festival.

The Snowbirds Canadian jet team will perform at the Muskegon Air Fair July 2-4, its only summer performance in the United States in 2004. The Snowbirds, part of the Canadian air force, are considered one of the air show industry's top acts, along with the U.S. Navy's Blue Angels and the U.S. Air Force's Thunderbirds.

A professional basketball team could make its debut in Muskegon in November. Lakeshore Basketball LLC is working to bring a Continental Basketball Association team to L.C. Walker Arena. The yet-to-be-named team would play from mid-November through March 2005. But Lakeshore Basketball must pass through a few hoops before the team is a reality, including preselling 1,000 season tickets for the 2004-05 season.

© 2004 Muskegon Chronicle. Used with permission