The All Crafts Fair marked its 50th year at Stanley Johnston Park, with rows of handmade vendors and food trucks spread across the lakeside grass the way they have every September since the Ford administration. It's the kind of anniversary that gets a banner and a mention in the Chamber newsletter, and this year it coincided with two very different construction projects downtown following separate schedules.
The pavilion project paused for the summer market season, while Kalamazoo Street work followed a separate construction schedule. Understanding the difference tells you something useful about how South Haven actually gets built, in the everyday details of downtown life.
Two Projects, Same Season, Different Schedules
Start with what's actually happening. The Huron Street Pavilion, the structure that doubles as an ice rink every winter and a farmers market roof every summer, is partway through a construction sequence the city approved back in February. The city council issued bonds of up to $2 million to cover the full scope of improvements, with the first phase, sinking a permanent in-ground cooling system into the pavilion floor, budgeted at roughly $800,000. Slab demolition and underground work ran through mid-June, paused for the season, and is scheduled to resume in October with final pavement work.
A few blocks away, on the other side of downtown, crews began tearing up Kalamazoo Street on Monday, August 17. The work runs from Blue Star Highway to Lovejoy Street and covers a new watermain, storm sewer repairs, a full roadbed reconstruction, and assorted concrete repairs. It's funded in part by an MDOT TEDF Category F grant, and the underlying problem is one the city's Department of Public Works had been watching for years: a newer stretch of main rebuilt about eight years ago meets an older 8-inch line further south, and that seam has been a known weak point. The South Haven Area Water and Sewer Authority signed off on the project in February with an estimated cost as high as $1.3 million.
Both are legitimate infrastructure projects. Neither is dramatic on its own. The projects followed different calendars, with the pavilion work pausing for the market season and the street work following its own schedule.
The Pavilion's Schedule and the Market
The South Haven Farm Market sets up under the Huron Street Pavilion every Saturday from May through October, 8am to 2pm, with Wednesday sessions added in June, July, and August. That's the pavilion's real workload, more than the ice rink most people associate it with, and construction work paused during the summer market season before resuming in October.
Here's how it actually broke down:
| Timeframe | What's happening at the pavilion | Farmers market status |
|---|---|---|
| Spring, through mid-June | Slab demolition, underground cooling installation | Potentially relocated to Dyckman Park for a couple of weeks |
| Summer, mid-June through September | Pavilion open, no active construction | Normal Saturday and Wednesday schedule under the pavilion |
| October | Final pavement work resumes | Overlaps with the last weeks of the Saturday season, no relocation confirmed either way |
| November | Rink construction complete, ice season begins | Not applicable |
Notice where the disruption landed. The demolition phase hit in May and early June, right as the market was just getting started for the year; a temporary move to Dyckman Park was possible. Construction paused through the summer market season.
October complicates that logic a little, because pavement crews are scheduled to return in the same month the market is still legally open for Saturday business. The city hasn't said publicly whether shoppers will see the pavilion fenced off, or whether the market simply finishes its 2026 run at Dyckman Park instead. If you shop the market on Saturdays, that's worth watching for over the next few weeks rather than assuming business as usual.
What isn't in question is the payoff. Assistant City Manager Michael Landis has described the new in-ground system as one that will make the annual process of building the rink, from laying gravel to freezing the coils, far less labor intensive than the version South Haven residents have skated on for years. The city has floated the possibility of a longer or more consistent skating season once the permanent system is in place, since prep time stops eating into the calendar every winter. Skating is expected back by November, on schedule.
Kalamazoo Street's Construction Schedule
Kalamazoo Street follows a different schedule. It isn't tied to a festival or a market season. The work is tied to a grant window and an aging pipe.
The project folds in new watermain, storm sewer repairs, a full roadbed rebuild, and concrete work along the stretch between Blue Star Highway and Lovejoy Street. It started in the middle of August, arguably the least convenient month for anyone driving that corridor for late-summer errands. If you use that stretch of Kalamazoo Street regularly, plan for a fall of detours and reduced lanes with no seasonal pause built in, unlike the pavilion project across town.
What This Buys You If You Live Here
The pavilion rebuild and the DDA's new Façade Improvement Program, launched this year to help business and property owners fund exterior renovations, are separate projects. The Kalamazoo Street project covers water and road infrastructure.
For future downtown work, check the details posted for each project. The pavilion schedule includes a pause during the market season; the Kalamazoo Street project follows a different schedule for watermain and road work.
For this particular fall, that means:
- The All Crafts Fair's 50th year at Stanley Johnston Park was unaffected by either project.
- Watch the farmers market's pavilion status closely once October arrives, since the paving schedule overlaps with the tail of the Saturday season.
- Expect the ice rink back on schedule in November, with a system built to make future winters easier on the city and, eventually, more consistent for skaters.
- If you drive Kalamazoo Street between Blue Star Highway and Lovejoy Street, budget extra time through the fall regardless of what else is on the downtown calendar.
None of this is dramatic news. It is a useful example of how a small city sequences construction projects with different scopes and how their schedules affect daily routines. South Haven is handling both types of work this season, and knowing the schedules can help you anticipate a fence or detour.
If you're keeping an eye on what's changing in South Haven, whether that's a construction detour or the kind of local detail that shapes what it's actually like to live here, Andrea Hook-Graham is always glad to talk through what's happening on the ground. Let's Connect.
