A familiar sight is back in Downtown Holland, as performers will line 8th Street every Thursday night this summer. This year, the community is ready for more events like this as the state reopens next week.
"That's what Michigan is all about, the summer time," Joe Gately says. "I think it's great... to be outside and enjoy the fresh air, having safe space amongst people and letting everyone know that things are on their way."
"It gets us out of the house and into the parks and beach and Downtown Holland," Sherry Vanhorssen says.
Kara de Alvare with Downtown Holland says she expects the street performers series to bring more traffic to local businesses as capacity limits lift both indoors and outdoors.
"Increased capacity will allow our businesses to do more business this summer. Our restaurants can have more people in them and so can retailers. It's great news for our businesses," she says. "Our businesses and our community is excited to see this event back."
The kick-off event was also an opportunity to get vaccinated as the Ottawa County Department of Public Health set up a clinic offering 30 doses of the Pfizer and Johnson and Johnson vaccines.
"I think it's important for those who are out and about and on the fence about getting vaccinated have the opportunity to talk to us and get questions answered," Health Educator Heather Alberda says.
The health department will be back on July 8th, and de Alvare expects more clinics to be set up throughout the summer.
"They really wanted to come out to where the people are and make it easy and convenient to get vaccinated," she says.
20 performing artists and groups will visit Downtown Holland every Thursday night from 6:30 P.M. to 8:30 P.M. through August 19th. There are about 55 artists and groups that will rotate weekly, so each event will be different.
►Make it easy to keep up to date with more stories like this. Download the 13 ON YOUR SIDE app now.
Have a news tip? Email news@13onyourside.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter. Subscribe to our YouTube channel.