Lakeside ‘lights’ showcase the Holiday Season
November 28, 2023
For immediate release
MUSKEGON, MI (Nov. 28, 2023) – Lakeside Business Improvement District and Corridor Improvement Authority Chairman Mark Flermoen is all in on the holidays this season.
Flermoen has designed, constructed and installed 60 light pole holiday decorations along Lakeshore Drive from the Ruddiman Creek Bridge to McCracken Street. The alternating four-foot stars and trees light the way up and down the retail district.
The head of the BID-CIA board saw the limited dollars the district currently has for holiday decorations and proposed to the group his design, getting approval for the purchase of the materials. He built the decoration frames out of steel rod and welded them together, covering them with garland and lights.
Before the Thanksgiving weekend, Flermoen and volunteers from the Lakeside Center and Tiny Digs Lakeshore installed them on the banner brackets of the district’s light poles.
“I think Lakeside sees itself as the underdog and my goal is to get more business owners involved in this district,” Flermoen said. “I think we are headed in the right direction. I want to see the whole city succeed, especially Lakeside.”
Lakeside is a unique business district along the south shoreline of Muskegon Lake between Downtown Muskegon and Pere Marquette Park Beach on Lake Michigan. It is becoming a critical link between the
growth in downtown and the residential developments such as Windward Pointe on Muskegon Lake.
“I want to do all I can for Lakeside,” said the co-owner of the Lakeside Center and another commercial-residential building on Lakeshore Drive. “And honestly as business does well in Lakeside, our buildings will do well.”
Flermoen, a Lakeshore Drive resident in the adjacent Nims Neighborhood, has retired from Quality Tool and more recently as the maintenance director of Van’s Car Wash after it was sold two years ago.
“Mark plays a crucial role in the prosperity of the Lakeside business community,” said Jocelyn Hines, city staff to the Lakeside BID-CIA. “Whether he’s passionately advocating for residents at city commission meetings or tending to the upkeep of public spaces in Lakeside, Mark consistently demonstrates his dedication to the community’s success.”
Flermoen and others who are part of the longstanding Lakeside District Association produced a successful first Lakeside Fall Festival in October. The LDA now has its traditional Holidays in Lakeside this Saturday Dec. 2 from 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
The celebration of the season includes specials in the Lakeside businesses; time with Santa and cookie decorating in the Wonderland Distillery from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. along with carriage rides; Tiny Digs tours from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.; a petting zoo from 2-4 p.m. and Christmas Tree lighting in the Lakeside Pocket Park at 5:30 p.m.
As part of Holidays in Lakeside, the district has a holiday lights competition for businesses and residents along Lakeshore Drive, a drop off box for letters to Santa, a raffle for a gift basket from Lakeside businesses and a drop off for a food drive for Mission for Area People.
For more information, contact:
Mark Flermoen, Lakeside BID-CIA
[email protected]
Jocelyn Hines, City of Muskegon Development Analyst
[email protected]
Note: Permission is granted for the use of the City of Muskegon photos of the Lakeside lights.