Great Lakes Kite Festival 2011 takes flight over Grand Haven State Park beginning today, and continues Saturday and Sunday. World-famous stunt kite fliers will perform to music on the center flying field, while kites larger than a school bus hover just to the south.

Three different players scored goals on Wednesday, lifting Spring Lake to victory over a defensive-minded Ludington squad in the semifinal round of the Lakes Eight Conference girls soccer tournament. With the win, the top-seed Lakers advance to the tournament championship game on Monday. They'll host rival Fruitport, a 1-0 winner over Orchard View in Wednesday's other semifinal contest.

Spring Lake senior pitcher Nick Keller needed to throw 110 pitches to wrap up his complete game gem against Fruitport during the opener of their key Lakes Eight Conference doubleheader on Tuesday. With the teams tied for first-place in the league, not once did Keller seem to get rattled on what he was determined to accomplish: "not get knocked around.' It's a fitting choice of words by the Lakers' workhorse, who also starred on Spring Lake's football team in the fall, knocking people around as a defensive lineman and offensive guard.

It's been several years since there has been a true firefighting boat in the Tri-Cities area and Ottawa County Marine Patrol officials and area firefighters could barely contain their excitement during an unofficial unveiling of the boat Monday afternoon at the Pettys Bayou boat launch. "There's not a lot of fire boats around,' said Spring Lake Township Fire Chief Rick Nuvill, who went along for an introductory ride. "Ludington just got the same boat. Muskegon Fire Department has one.'

Rain showers didn't put a damper on members of Girl Scout Troop 2611, who learned about nature on Saturday when they planted trees at Duncan Memorial Park in Grand Haven. The girls, with the help of members of the Grand Haven Woman's Club, planted several trees in the park and also aided in cleaning up invasive species around park property. "I think it's doing a lot for the woods, and it will help the community and help the wildlife,' said Girl Scout Jennifer Green, one of the girls taking part in the planting.

At first, Brian and Tyler Harms weren't sure if their experiment was going to get off the ground Thursday morning, much less into the stratosphere. Surrounded by fellow students in a field next to Mary A. White Elementary School, 1400 Wisconsin St., the two brothers watched as their weather balloon - dangling a cooler filled with electronics and a camera - drifted lazily toward the baseball diamond. WZZM-TV chief meteorologist George Lessens led the countdown when the balloon finally took off into the sky with the help of some added helium.

Grand Haven was off its game in a key O-K Red Conference tri-meet at Grand Haven Golf Club on Tuesday, resulting in Rockford scoring comfortable wins over the Bucs and West Ottawa. Rockford finished with a team score of 161, compared to the Bucs' 175 and the Panthers' 189. "We tried to extend our unbeaten match record, but we came out flat from the start,' Grand Haven coach Randy White said. "Putts weren't going in and we were dropping shots as we approached each hole.'

An emotional start to Saturday's Mike Bernard Memorial Invitational saw the late Mike Bernard's grandson, Brady Hill, throwing out the first pitch. Unfortunately, Spring Lake's varsity baseball team couldn't channel that emotion into a win on the diamond as the Lakers dropped both games in the seventh annual tournament. The Lakers opened with a 7-2 loss to West Ottawa, then later fell to St. Joseph, 15-4. Mike Bernard was a longtime supporter of Spring Lake athletics and announcer for the Lakers' baseball team who passed away in 2004.