05-25-2017 Welcome to Summer in the Tri-Cities; Places to explore and family activities for summer f

Places to explore and family activities for summer fun

By Angela Stair

Whether you are here for only a summer visit, or live here year round, you are in the right place to reach out to all the happenings in the Tri-City Area of Coloma, Watervliet and Hartford.  Each of the three towns is unique with the feel of the surrounding community. The differences make for interesting shopping and dining out with the variety of places available for your pleasure.

Finding activities that will keep the whole family entertained is not an easy thing to do, especially if you are visiting an area.  Below you will find some suggestions and locations that the whole family will enjoy.

Water!

Now that made the kids ears perk up!  The whole western border of Berrien County is Lake Michigan which offers a multitude of opportunities for fun.  The sandy beaches invite you to take a dip in the lake and sun dry on the beach.  The huge sand dunes beg to be climbed by young and old.  There are also plenty of inland lakes that have public beaches, such as Paw Paw Lake, Scott Lake, and Van Auken Lake to name a few.

If you want to get wet indoors, Watervliet hosts the Fairfield Hotel with Surfari Joe’s Water Park that is open daily to the public.

Exercise and fitness

If you are into a physical fitness routine and want to continue it while on vacation, there are several businesses between Watervliet and Coloma that should work for what you need.  If you want to explore the area while you work out, you might want to try a few of these places out.

Behind Lakeland Hospital Watervliet they have a fitness trail set up that is open daily and free to the public.  The trail itself is 1.1 miles long but has various stops along the way where you can do jumping jacks, push-ups, chin-ups, side-to-side stepping and others.  The hospital number is 269-463-3111.

The Sarett Nature Center at 2300 North Benton Center Road is located along the Paw Paw River Valley and has eight miles of walking trails over 1,000 acres.  The trails are open from dawn to dusk every day.

Sarett also has a visitor’s education center, live native animals and a tree top walkway.  The Center puts on programs over the summer that you can check out.   To get open hours for the Center or a list of programs, phone 269-927-4832 or visit www.sarett.com.

To the east a few miles of the Tri-City area is the Wolf Lake State Fish Hatchery located at 34270 CR 652 and M-43.  If you wish, you can take a self guided walk along the trails that take approximately one hour.  Hatchery tours are offered daily, and you must join a tour to enter the hatchery.  Guided tours are approximately 30 minutes long.

They also offer Catch-and-Release fishing for the youth every Saturday (pre-registration required) and some Friday evenings too.  Fun Friday programs in the morning and afternoon are offered on a variety of topics, including frogs, turtles, snakes, fish mammals and more.  Every Wednesday at noon you can watch the feeding frenzy as they feed the fish they are rearing.  For programs scheduled and times, contact the Wolf Lake State Fish Hatchery Service Center at 269-668-2696.

Trails to walk

If you are into walking, there are many trails for you to explore in the Tri-City Area and one that leads you all the way to Kalamazoo by way of South Haven.

The largest inland lake in Berrien County is Paw Paw Lake, 857 acres, that stretches across the northern edges of Coloma and Watervliet.  This lake has a trail you can follow from the City of Coloma to the City of Watervliet and is eight and a half miles long.  Part of it follows the Paw Paw River that is the source of both Paw Paw and Little Paw Paw lakes.

The Van Buren Trail State Park starts in Hartford on Prospect St. / 57th Avenue and ends at Lovejoy Avenue in South Haven.  It is considered a rail-trail and used for activities of walking, mountain biking, horseback riding and in the winter cross country skiing and snowmobiling.  The trail is fourteen miles long.

The Van Buren Trail Spur is also a rail-trail but is surfaced with asphalt and is wheelchair accessible.  The trail end points are Van Buren State Park to 16th Avenue.  Other trail activities are walking, inline skating, biking and in winter cross country skiing.

Once in South Haven, at Bailey Avenue the Kal-Haven Trail Sesquicentennial State Park begins and ends 34.5 miles to the east at Kalamazoo River Valley Trail in Kalamazoo.  It is also considered a rail-trail and offers fishing, walking, biking, and in the winter snowmobiling and cross country skiing.

The City of South Haven is a resort town and harbor.  They have a Harborwalk that is marked with the north and south lighthouses as end points.  The Harborwalk begins at the north pierhead lighthouse, follows the Black River up to the drawbridge, and then back around the harbor towards the south pierhead lighthouse.

Along the walk you will find the Riverfront Park, Stanley Johnson Park, and both the North and South Beaches.  You’ll pass through the Michigan Maritime Museum campus and have a chance to tour historic vessels, and even book a seat on the Friends Goodwill, South Haven’s famous tall ship.

Fishing

This is a fisherman’s dream place!  Fishing is a great activity for the whole family to take part in.  You have access to Lake Michigan big fish, Coho, lake trout, salmon and perch from the piers in South Haven or St. Joseph, surf casting anywhere or on a fishing charter out of South Haven or St. Joseph.

The inland lakes have bluegills, crappie, largemouth and smallmouth bass, pike and walleye to name a few.  Little Paw Paw Lake is well known for its bass.  In Van Buren County, Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR), has more than 35 lakes mapped to help you find the best spot for your targeted kind of fish, (my targeted fish is anything that will bite).

The DNR has a wonderful website that will help you if this is your first time fishing, or answer questions experienced anglers want answers to.  Go to Michigan DNR on line and then click on Fishing.  It answers questions like; where can I fish? Where to get a license; rules and regulations.  It will give you a weekly fishing report and they now have a Trout Trail Application to help fish for Trout.

Michigan is nationally known as a trout fishing destination with nearly 20,000 miles of cold, quality trout streams and hundreds of trout lakes accessible to anglers.  With all these sites to visit, use the help of the new Trout Trails Application.  The waters are biologist-verified great trout waters that are often lesser know.  The website includes detailed descriptions and photos for each site, as well as information for area lodging, restaurants and guide services to assist with our trip planning.  Mobile users: no app to download, just launch our application in your browser.

One well known stream for brown trout is Mill Creek; it is accessible in Watervliet on the side of East Saint Joseph Street.  Brandywine Creek is another well known one that is located near South Haven.

There are four good size rivers in the area to fish also, and all are accessible in several places.  In the area is the Paw Paw River that runs through Watervliet to Coloma and on to join the Saint Joseph River that flows to Lake Michigan.  You have the Black River in South Haven and the Kalamazoo River that flows to the Allegan Dam in Allegan County and always seems to be busy.

Other items of interest

There is golf available also at the Paw Paw Lake Golf Club at 4548 Forest Beach Road in Watervliet Township.  For more information call 269-468-3831. This is located north of the cities of Coloma and Watervliet.  A little farther north the Lake Michigan Hills Golf Club is located at 2520 Kerlikowske Road in Hagar Township.  Phone 269-849-2722 for more information.  North of South Haven they have the HawksHead Links at 523 HawksNest Drive.  For more information, phone 269-639-2121.

Another treat is the South Haven Farm Market that is held every Saturday and during the summer months on Wednesdays too.  They have tables and tables of fresh fruit, vegetables, and plenty of home baked items from the local produce for you to purchase.  They also have handmade crafts, flowers, antiques and much, much more.

Time to be mellow

Now, after all that swimming, walking climbing and buying; it’s time to take a comfortable lawn chair to enjoy a Concert in the Park in Hartford.  Every Thursday evening at 7:00 p.m. the Hartford’s Lions Club will be sponsoring a free concert in Hartford’s Ely Park in the middle of downtown.

The music is different each week starting with a brass band on the first concert, June 8.  Each week there is different music such as variety, country, romantic, and Motown to mention a few.  July 6 is the country music night with Jared Knox and is also the community picnic. You do not need to bring a thing, just your lawn chair.