SOUTH HAVEN, Mich. — Many West Michigan cities are preparing for thousands of tourists over the Fourth of July holiday weekend, including South Haven.
Their top priority? Safety.
The beach was quiet on Wednesday, but city officials said by Thursday they'd start to see an influx of people.
They're expecting around 20,000 people to come in for the holiday weekend.
"We do want this to be a very safe and happy event for a lot of folks, so we will have tight security and we will have a lot of resources in town to help us make that so," said the Kate Hosier, South Haven's City Manager.
It has been two years since the city of South Haven has held its big Fourth of July events.
"We expect to have a large amount of crowds coming of residents and visitors. It is our fireworks show that we are bringing back after two years which we are pretty excited about," said Hosier.
With a large amount of people, though, comes a concern for safety and security, but for South Haven, it is something they have been planning for six months.
"We have dozens of extra officers that will be patrolling throughout the morning, evening and night filling both beaches. We also contracted with a private security company that helps us with checkpoints at North and South beach," said South Haven Police Department's Chief of Police Natalie Thompson.
Chief Thompson said they'll be checking coolers and other bags for alcohol and contraband.
They will also be doing increased parking enforcement.
"We’ll be doing pretty heavy checking at our North and South beaches. There will officers at our other five public beaches and parks. We have officers on bicycles, on bike patrol that will be throughout the downtown and both beaches," said Chief Thompson.
City officials are also encouraging water safety.
With the city's new pier ordinance in place, they said they've only written a total of four citations.
Chief Thompson said she hopes it stays that way throughout the weekend and till the end of the summer.
"Especially compared to previous years, we have not had significant water rescues yet this year," said Chief Thompson.
South Haven's flag system will also be in place this weekend notifying beach-goers on beach conditions. You can sign up for cellphone notifications by texting the word 'BEACHES' to 888777.
For any questions or concerns, you can contact the South Haven Police Department at (269) 637-5151.
The City of South Haven's website also has basic information and event locations and times for the weekend.
