GRAND HAVEN, Mich. — The annual Coast Guard Festival is drawing thousands of families to Grand Haven and many of them started staking out their spots for Saturday’s events on Friday.
FOX 17 talked with the Sides family who said they have not missed the festival in more than 20 years.
“In the beginning, our church had a float in the parade, so the kids sang in the parade on a float every year and then, so, we save spots for the parade,” Laurie Sides told FOX 17 Friday. “I got here at 4:15 in the morning and, believe it or not, there are already some people here. And we have to tie off our area and then they come mow at seven, so we have to move over and then once they mow, we can put down the sheets and we have to stay here until 12-1 Friday morning.”
Laurie said there’s no chance she and her family will miss out on their spot, especially because it’s their first year here without Laurie’s husband, Ally’s father.
“He loved the music fountain, the fireworks, so it’s a little hard to watch it without him. Kind of will be a teary, emotional time, but we do it in memory of him, too,” Laurie said.
“We have memories surrounding him. Makes us really miss him, so like a week like this, it just, you feel you miss his presence. It feels like he should be here with us, but, like she said, it’s a good time to remember him and remember all the good memories that we have from this time of year,” Laurie’s daughter Ally added.
“We would come sit here Thursday, Friday, Saturday night, and the nice weather with my husband and some close friends, and we just laugh a lot, play cards, you know, just enjoy the weather, enjoy watching all the people and all the boats go by,” Laurie said.
And now, the mother-daughter duo looks to also build on new memories.
“My mom is like one of my closest friends, so I love being able to come back. And, like I said, just relive some of the memories that we have from this festival…It’s a fun time to be able to spend time together and be in the nice weather and have fun out here,” Ally added.
The Grand Parade starts at 11:45 a.m. Saturday, with the fireworks show taking place Saturday night.
