GRAND HAVEN, MICH — Every summer the streets and waterways of Grand Haven are flooded with thousands of people here for the Coast Guard Festival. And making sure that ship stays upright is a titanic task – but one new festival executive director Tracy Riley is more than ready for it.
“I am just delighted to be here.”
That enthusiasm for the job isn’t anything new for Tracy – who as a Coast Guard veteran was previously stationed in Grand Haven and could not wait to make her way back.
"As soon as the first month I was here, my kids and I fell in love with this place," Tracy told Fox17. "And I just knew it was kind of automatic. Of all the places I've been in the Coast Guard. I'm like, I'll be retiring in Grand Haven. I told people that the first couple months I was here."
She was right – returning to West Michigan and serving on the festival board before stepping into her new role following the death of long-time executive director Mike Smith this past summer.
“There's nobody like Mike Smith now," said Riley. "So Mike, like, left a legacy and built this festival to what it is today.”
And what it is today is a nationally recognized event people look forward to all year long.
We have a presidential proclamation named Grant Haven, US Coast Guard City, USA. So we take that very seriously here. There's no other Coast Guard festival like ours anywhere.
It’s not only Tracy’s first year at the helm BUT it is also the 100th anniversary of the festival this summer.
Which has come a long way from the simple picnic it started as. But if you want to know what surprises are in store for this year, you are going to have to wait until July like everyone else.
"It's so exciting to think about all the things we want to do the normal events that we usually have," Riley said. "And then the things that we wanted to do to amp it up a little bit and recognize people and we're on to discussion and planning right now. So those things will become more solid as we move into the new year.”
