Tagged: summer

School’s out and summer means sun tans, barbeques, beach days, and…searching for Christmas Trees?

The hunt for the state holiday tree has begun. Michigan needs a 65-foot-tall evergreen that can sparkle on the lawn of the Capitol building in November.

“Everyone laughs that the process starts in June,” said Kurt Weiss with Michigan’s Department of Technology, Management and Budget, “But that’s when the process starts.”

Michigan’s tourism hot spots are in the midst of their first big summer weekend.

Michigan State University’s annual tourism forecast predicts a three percent increase in the number of tourists this year. The forecast also predicts a five percent increase in tourism spending in 2013.

Brad Van Dommelen is the president of the Traverse City Convention and Visitors Bureau. He says Traverse City-area hotels have seen an uptick in pre-bookings.

The summer holiday season is getting off to a cool start this weekend.

There’s a chance of frost tonight in parts of Michigan.   And daytime temperatures will struggle to make it into the low 70’s the rest of the weekend. 

It may feel a little chilly for the first weekend of summer, but weather forecasters say more seasonable temperatures are coming.

But will this be a warmer or cooler summer?

Jeff Andresen is a state climatologist. He says Michigan’s average summer high temperatures range in the upper 70 to lower 80’s.

If you're planning a trip to Michigan's state parks this summer, expect some company.

The parks are on track to break attendance records this year, with more than 25 million visits expected.  

It’s mostly thanks to hot weather, lowers gas prices, and cheaper park passes, says Harold Herta of the Department of Natural Resources.  "We've seen a lot of people coming out to the parks this year that said, I haven't been to a state park in years, and I thought I'd try it out. Especially in the metro-Detroit area."

Detroit Free Press columnist Ron Dzwonkowski offers 10 ways we can tell another Michigan summer is upon us.

Here's the list:

Several weeks ago, The World did a story about dance clubs popping-up in Europe for one hour, during lunchtime. (Basically people can swing by an alcohol-free, make-shift dance club at noon. Organizers even provide free lunches!)

While we don’t quite have anything like this in Michigan, we do have events where people can enjoy free music and get their dance on—if they want to.

Millions of kids eat free or reduced-price meals at their schools during the school year. But during the summer, those numbers drop dramatically. Last year Michigan schools served 144 million free meals. But during the summer the state only served 2.6 million meals.

Active-duty military members and their families will get free admission to more than 1,000 museums in the United States this summer. It’s part of the National Endowment for the Arts Blue Star Museums program. 129 of those museums are in Michigan.

Bob Sadler is with the Detroit Historical Museum. He says this is the second year the museum has participated in the program and they hope to continue:

Mosquitoes are expected to be an even bigger annoyance than usual for Michiganders this summer.  Heavy rains in April and May have set the stage for a big burst of mosquitoes in Michigan this year.