Smaller than usual crowd travels to South Haven for first unofficial summer weekend
SOUTH HAVEN, Mich — The cold water did not stop many families from enjoying the sand and sun at South Haven's North Beach on Sunday, May 24, 2020.
Aaron Suvo and his children Nevaeh and Michael Nuvo, traveled from Troy, just to swim in the lake.
They travel every year to Lake Michigan, and despite the three-hour drive, they enjoyed the morning by digging a sandcastle.
"We got sick of staying indoors. Kids are bouncing off the walls, so we decided to hop in the car and found the first open beach we saw on the Internet. Drove straight out here about three hours later. We pulled over and found the first beach we came to and that was it," he said.
Despite it raining Saturday, May 23, that didn't dampen their spirits. Aaron and many other's took the sunny day to enjoy the outdoors.
"Put a little of normal back in everybody's life for a while," he said.
George Sullivan and his family own a summer home in the area.
Sullivan guessed there was about a third of the normal crowd for the holiday weekend. He felt safe, and that most beachgoers were practicing safe social distancing.
"Most of the people are doing the right thing smaller groups and are spread out, I am not afraid to be here with my family here today," he said.
The COVID-19 and restrictions didn't stop them from coming from Illinois for the weekend.
"Normally it's big crowds, hard to find parking and just a lot of people," he said.
But with less people, Sullivan said the beach had more of an end-of-season vibe to it.
"It is hard to make this your opening weekend because it’s different the crowds aren’t here the people aren’t here people are a little bit more cautious so whereas in the past summers people are more free in just doing their own thing so it is a little change," he said.
Even the drinking fountains were shrink wrapped to stop the spread of the virus.
For information on South Haven and the local rules, head to their website.
While many visitors were seen at the beach, on Saturday, May 23, large crowds were seen down South Haven's shopping district.
- COVID-19: Find the latest news on the outbreak in West Michigan by visiting the Newschannel 3 coronavirus page.
Follow Jason Heeres on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Also send story tips to Jheeres@wwmt.com.
