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South Haven

Pure Paradise in a Harbortown

By Kent BrindleyPublished 3 years ago 3 min read
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Welcome to my home town. THIS is #PureSouthHaven and South Haven IS #PureMichigan

Welcome to South Haven. Downtown restaurants. Summer concert series. South/North Beaches. Harborfest. Light Up The Lake. National Blueberry Festival. And THAT is all just in the Summer time.

South Haven, MI has been my home since 1986. I would have been barely two years old, if THAT old yet (depending on the month), when my family moved into an apartment right over my father's boat storage business. My earliest memories of home were learning to use the remote, discovering not only "He-Man" and "She-Ra" but syndicated animation at the same time, and being hooked into my first collection of figures, books, and cassette tapes.

My family grew the next year with the arrival of my younger sister in what would be the FIRST home community that she would have known of.

Then, Grandma moved to town to help take care of Kate and I while our parents both worked during the day. Covert wasn't even a memory to me anymore as my birth community; SOUTH HAVEN was the community that I recognized as HOME since I was two years old.

I get the advantage of witnessing South Haven not only in the Summer, navigating my way around tourists and second-home owners on my way to my favorite local dive or out on a brisk Summer walk; I get to experience it in the Fall, Winter, and Spring too. There are actually seasons of the year when you can WALK RIGHT INTO the most popular restaurant in downtown South Haven; and the staff is happy to see you not only as a local but as a diner. The glitz and glamour of Festival Season or later sunsets might be behind us; but downtown and the piers and beaches are still available. I dare say that they might be MORE available to the local community once our Summer visitors and second home owners have gone home for the season.

Don't get me wrong; NOTHING beats a South Haven Summer with its festivals and a pair of my favorite restaurants in town being open for business. Summer can bring not only tourists to share in my appreciation of my hometown but it can bring back old friends too. Fall means nice walking weather and, occasionally, Rams Football (they are not historically a top-tier football program; it doesn't replace high school memories of supporting the football team because...well, that's what I did for my classmates and my peers). Winter usually means dismal, drab sidewalks, occasionally covered in a pretty layer of white (I have outgrown wanting to see more than a couple of inches of snow at a time). Spring can be either dry or damp; a dry, cool spring is good for walking into town in nice temperatures.

Water Street and Black River

South Haven is where I spent my childhood. It is where I went through my formal education; and my first two years of community college as part of the first class of its very own Lake Michigan College campus. It is home to my church community (St. Basils Catholic). It's where I met my childhood friends and other fellow peers. It's where I met my first handful of unrequited crushes.

I am grown now and South Haven is not only still home; it is home to my first job as well. Do I plan to leave South Haven's shores one day? Absolutely. If I do make my home community elsewhere, will I be prone to returning to visit? Certainly. If my hopes, plans, dreams, and ambitions ever DO reach fruition, I would prefer to be a part of Grand Rapids; at least for a little while. However, don't let that stop me from returning to South Haven on occasion if I ever do get to move.

Welcome to Pure South Haven, Michigan; my childhood home and home to some great, and others not-so-much, childhood memories. If it is not the spokes town for the "Pure Michigan" campaign, it at least is to me.

Come visit; we'll be glad to have you.

South Pier Lighthouse; Black River.

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About the Creator

Kent Brindley

Smalltown guy from Southwest Michigan

Lifelong aspiring author here; complete with a few self-published works always looking for more.

https://www.instagram.com/kmoney_gv08/

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