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| Coast Guard Festival 2005! | |
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08/06/05 - Grand Haven, MI (Photos) Yes, the Coast Guard exists in Michigan, much to the enjoyment of locals and visitors alike |
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Without question, the biggest event in Grand Haven every year is the 10-day long Coast Guard Festival. Man, do people around here get geeked up about this thing! The highlights include a parade, carnival (including beer tents), and the big fireworks display that wraps up the whole ordeal on the final Saturday night. Without mentioning names, some of the scottandcaroline.com staff who aren't from Grand Haven just can't believe how excited people get for the festival - especially the parade. People start "reserving" spots several days in advance, by lining the streets and green areas with blankets and/or chairs, ropes and duct tape. And this works! People don't move anyone's blankets, don't steal anyone's chairs... it's as good as having a deed on your very own 100 square feet of parade/fireworks watching paradise. Caroline's parents are right on the parade route, however, so we were able to simply stroll out to the front porch to watch the goings-on (mostly high school marching bands, a couple of floats, and a bevy of various agricultural queens (i.e. Blueberry Queen, Cherry Queen, etc.). It's quite an honor to get an invite to a parade route house, and we were blessed to bystand along with 25 or so other lucky guests.
The fireworks show at the Coast Guard Festival, we both agree, is the best we've ever seen, putting to shame those displays in Detroit, San Francisco and Mexico. This year's fireworks spectacular had added excitement, as the hill across the channel where they set the fireworks off went up in flames, due to the dry summer weather we've been experiencing. Overall, the perfect weather and throngs of attendees made for another successful festival. As much as we enjoyed the festive atmosphere, by the end we were looking forward to said throngs departing, so we could once again find a tranquil spot on the beach. |
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