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Bigger crowds expected for Coast Guard Festival during 100th anniversary

Exciting changes are coming to the festival to celebrate the anniversary along with extra transportation options to account for the uptick in attendance.

GRAND HAVEN, Mich. — With a week to go until the kickoff of Coast Guard Festival 2024, event organizers are preparing to deliver excitement on what is a milestone anniversary for the festival. 

Coast Guard Festival turns 100 this year and a few changes are coming to celebrate.

"We wanted to do a couple of things that were a little bit special. We decided that the concerts at the waterfront will all have an opening act. We've never done that before," said marketing director Annie Lengkeek. "So we have our tribute bands, which we're known for, and then we have an opening act before that and we tried to pick more local bands."

Lengkeek said they also moved the community picnic. 

While the picnic used to be at Coast Guard Park in Ferrysburg, this year it'll be in Mulligan's Hollow. 

"So after the car show on that first Sunday, head down to Mulligan's Hollow for the community picnic. It's open to the public. We're really hoping that people show up and try that out," Lengkeek said. 

Lengkeek said they're asking everyone to dress in 1950s attire for The Grand Parade on Coast Guard Saturday, Aug. 3, to pay homage to the parade's roots. 

"The first parade was in the 1950s and when it started out it was really quite small," Lengkeek said. "The clown band was in it, but it had Coast Guard that walked in it. It wasn't like it is today. We didn't have over 100 entries and it wasn't over two miles long. So we really want people to dress like the 1950s."

Coast Guard Festival usually brings 300,000 to 350,000 people to downtown Grand Haven each year, but because of the anniversary, organizers are expecting this year's attendance to be even higher. 

Due to this, they're adding transportation options to make it easier for people to get around.

"Friday to Friday, July 26 to August, 2, we're going to have a shuttle from Harbor Island to 3rd and Columbus that will be running the entire time that there's any events to go to," Lengkeek said.

On Coast Guard Saturday, Harbor Transit is running a shuttle from some different spots in the Tri-Cities to 3rd and Columbus. 

"It's really a great thing if you're worried about coming down here and not finding parking," Lengkeek said. 

Click here for a full rundown of Coast Guard Festival events.

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