Mona Shores Singing Christmas Tree 19' Reprise - Limited Time Only
Apr 5^th - 12^th , 2020 - MuskegonChannel.com/Tree
Also Available on our ROKU & Fire TV Channels

Last year, we had our eyes opened up to the world of competitive robotics when the MARS 4004 Rovers team invited us out to do a story on their team and highlight the work and effort the young people from different area schools put in to battle it out in a local, state and regional and national level to see who can build the most competitive machine piloted by the most talented team.  It's all part of STEM learning and the hands on approach for these young people is AMAZING!

Today Paranormal Muskegon sat down with Darren Dykhouse and Jamie Rae of Lakeshore Paranormal, a ghost-hunting team and Paranormal Youtubers in Muskegon. Ghost-hunting has become quite popular and it seems there is no shortage of them in Michigan. Most use a variety of instruments in their search for them but Lakeshore Paranormal is one of the few that rely on their abilities to sense and communicate with the spirit world in their pursuit of the unknown in addition to using devices that pick up ghostly manifestations. Darren Dykhouse is an empath and Jamie Rae is a psychic medium. They agreed to talk with us about their work and shared a few hair-raising stories of the spirits they encountered while on the hunt. 

The advice week in and week out is the same - "Warm up, stretch out and consult your Dr. to make sure if you're ready for this or any other workout".  It's the boiler plate line for any workout program but what is proper stretching?  Becky will show you in episode 135 of Fit and Healthy With Becky on The Muskegon Channel. 

It was a splendid night again at Smash Wine Bar and Bistro in Downtown Muskegon as we rolled out the 14th episode of Muskegon Tonight Live!!  A cold February night didn't keep a decent crowd away as Restaurant Week was kicking off in Muskegon and everyone enjoyed the great food and drink that Smash is known for.

To follow up on some of the stories of ghostly happenings around the Muskegon area, Paranormal Muskegon wanted to ask some experts about it, so we contacted the West Michigan Paranormal Team to see what exactly what, if anything, is haunting Muskegon.  West Michigan Paranormal Team is comprised of Deanna Headley and Candi Hess, have done a number of paranormal investigations in the Muskegon area as well as other states over the last few years. Lovers of everything mysterious, paranormal or ghostly, these brave and personable ladies spend their weekends investigating reports of hauntings and ghostly shenanigans around the Muskegon area, from darkened cemeteries to Muskegon’s iconic historical buildings as well as private residences; all to find some ghostly apparitions or strange phenomenon. 

It's an event that's been building steam and flavor for a few years now.  Tiffany Woods Apartments has been hosting an chili cook off and competition for a few years in their beautiful club house.  It's been well attended by the residents there and every year, a few more pots full of the best secret recipes and family famous chili have come with their game face on to be judged by the blue ribbon panel as well as the attendees of the get together.  

It was a great night to celebrate a couple of things.  First, the one year anniversary of Muskegon Tonight Live!  Yep!  January of 2019 we got things underway in the middle of the "Polar Vortex" we were enduring at the time.  Not many people were out doing anything for a good week at the time, but we had a decent crowd turn out for our first episode and outside of the "little teeny tiny" problem Andy had in December, we've made Hometown Hospitality venues our home since!  Both Smash and Pub 111 in Whitehall have been outstanding and we're going to be back all year at both!

It’s always a sincere pleasure to meet with truly talented, inspiring people in our West Michigan community...that is why it was so great sitting down with two of the most talented, inspiring people I know….Trent Klairter and Deirdra Ross. Both incredible Drama and Music Teachers and Directors at Reeths-Puffer Schools. We chatted about some very exciting events happening for students and for the public.

Today Paranormal Muskegon visited the Hackley Public Library to find out more about its history as well as to see what we could find out about some of the stories that have circulated for years that the library is haunted by the ghost of its founder, philanthropist and lumbar baron, Charles Hackley. We spoke with Program and Marketing Coordinator, Mallory Metzger, who was kind enough to talk with us about its history and share some of the accounts of possible paranormal activity that a few have reported. Mr. Hackley was one of Muskegon's most prominent lumber barons of the day. As co-owner of a large lumber company started in Muskegon in the 1850's, he was also instrumental in the foundation of many of Muskegon’s other buildings and establishments; including a hospital, school administration building, and a city park and continues to be an iconic figure here. 

 Hackley Park's Christmas decorations are up for the season!

Oh what a night we had at Smash Wine Bar and Bistro on November 21st!  It was a short month between shows it seemed, Smash is really becoming a destination for GREAT entertainment in Downtown Muskegon and we booked a little early in November because of the Thanksgiving holiday coming up and all of the incredible entertainment Smash has planned!  Hey, that's what we're in business for!  We LOVE to see places succeed when we're there and we're so incredibly thankful to Smash for being our anchor in Muskegon!  

Today Paranormal Muskegon was on location at the Montague Museum in Montague, Michigan. Having learned from their website that the museum had amongst their exhibits a couple of rather curious artifacts, we wanted to check them out in person as well as find out more about the history of the museum.  The building was formerly a United Methodist Church, which was evident by the beautiful stained glass windows and high vaulted ceilings. The church was built in 1872 and sold for a nominal fee of $1.00 to the Museum Board in 1969, where it has been since then. 

Last year was the first year that the Mona Shores Singing Christmas Tree was ever shown live outside the live performance and we were so excited and so incredibly honored to be able to show the rest of the world this incredible spectacle that happens annually for 35 years now right here in Muskegon.  When we first had the idea, we were certain of a few things.  One, we wanted to make sure that our production of the show could live up to the tireless effort put in by everyone involved with the tree.  Two, we wanted to make sure that we lived up to the incredible beauty and splendor that happens live and, Three, we wanted to make sure everything on our end was satisfactory before we said a word that we were going to be showing the Tree live!  All of that worry and preparation left us with about 3 days to get the word out once we were sure we could pull it off.  Follow the Singing Christmas Tree on Facebook

Well, the word spread quick.  In those few days, we saw what was almost unthinkable.  The word spread world wide and as the show began, the number of viewers was staggering.  We had a few sample viewers in different areas watching during the rehearsals for things like sound, and picture quality.  We also had a unique situation pop up in the fact that everyone in the production of the tree got nightly review "tapes" to see where they could make tiny improvements as the final Saturday show got closer and closer.  In our few days of spreading the word around, when the final count was done at the end of the night, 10,200 live viewers had watched from every corner of earth.  United States, Canada, Germany, India, Brazil, Japan, Australia, Guatamala, Hong Kong, Cayman Islands, Bolivia, New Zeland, Phillipenes and more.  

We learned too that with the size of the audience, came a few issues.  Mostly, problems came with slower internet speeds on the receiving end.  Those with DSL or slower speeds seemed to experience some lag in the broadcast.  There were some on DSL who saw everything just fine, and an explanation was not able to be found.  It was an isolated problem we think and we're hoping this year that the frustration doesn't repeat.  We'd recommend that if you do use DSL internet, that during the time of the live show, that you limit what's taking up bandwidth in your house to help avoid the lagging.  

Some other ideas.  Maybe gather some friends together to watch.  Have a watch party and spread a little holiday cheer together!  We know of one town hall outside of Berlin Germany that did that last year!  Do you have a mobile phone you can cast to a television?  We were getting word last year that people were driving around and able to watch on 4g and higher speeds with no problems.  That might help if you have a slower service at home.  Are you a Comcast Cable subscriber in the Muskegon area?  We will also simulcast the Singing Christmas Tree on Channel 96 that evening, although it will not be in high definition as Channel 96 is the PEG channel and only operates in SD.  The Singing Christmas Tree will NOT be live on the Muskegon Channel's app for Roku or Amazon Fire TV.  unfortunately, streaming life to those is not available yet.

We are thrilled to be bringing you the tree once again, and we hope you enjoy the show!!  We'll have a special screen up early on December 7th alerting the audience about the start time and how to begin to watch the stream at 7p.  In the meantime, below you'll find a very quick sample from last year to get you ready!!  Tell some friends and let's all celebrate the accomplishment of some of our young people in Muskegon this holiday season with another remarkable showing of the Mona Shores Singing Christmas Tree! 

We were incredibly honored last year to have been given the chance to show the world one of Muskegon's biggest and best annual events. 

It's a growing and booming market.  Sports memorabilia and collectibles are something that everyone enjoys and as the hobbies continue to be fueled by interest from collectors as well as companies wanting to feed the beast, collecting, trading and swap meets have taken on a whole new level of fun while maintaining that classic feel of being able to go to an event to find that "magical unicorn" of an item that you just have to have to round out that card collection of a certain team from a certain year or maybe it's that one item you had as a kid that you've been looking for ever since.

We've seen the emergence of the "Con".  Where it's an entire weekend of dress up and cos-play around everything pop culture.  Toys, games, gamers, movie stars, developers, computer nerds....you name it.  Entire Garrisons of Star Wars characters show up and a sensory overload ensues.  All a lot of fun but there are those collectors too who like to stick to sports and maybe dip into some of the pop stuff as well.  See Bill's Detroit Tigers Collectors Page on Facebook

As Bill Welch and Rusty Morningstar saw it, Muskegon was a little behind on the sports card and collectible shows.  Sure, they remember going to the mall back in the day for the shows and of course anyone can go on Ebay and buy stuff, but it's the combination of a lot of things that make the collecting fun.  It's the strolling past the vendors, the random chats about sports memories, the anticipation of what you might find minus the search engine on some website and maybe, you'll see something there you have and had no idea how much it was worth till you saw it's match at the show!  Oh ya, there's another great thing about sports card and collectible shows... meeting the sports stars themselves!

This Saturday, at the VFW located at 5209 Grand Haven Road, Bill and Rusty open the doors at 9am for the fun!  You'll be able to meet and get autographs from Denny McClain of the 68 Detroit Tigers, Dave Rozema of the 84 Tigers, Larry Foster of Detroit Tiger fame as well as Terrance Taylor from the University of Michigan and Jay Vincent of MSU fame!  Admission to come in to the show is free but some of the signers do ask for a small fee.  There will be awesome food catered by Bone Ends of Whitehall, which Rusty happens to own and that timeless atmosphere of the collectors show will be back once again.

I met up with Bill and Rusty to talk about the event.  Take a listen.

A great time coming up.  If you're a long time collector or just see it on TV, stop in.  If you'd like your kids to meet some of your favorite sports hero's, they will be there.  If, like us you want to help a couple of local guys trying to keep alive a great tradition and pretty timeless event...get there from 9a-3p this Saturday!  

 Behind The Mask Masquerade Ball RED CARPET 2019

Previously live from the Trillium Event Center