Grand Rapids Official Visitor Guide 2008 - Bonus Section

Did you enjoy reading our stories in the 2008 Grand Rapids Visitor Guide? Still thirsty for more? We have some more information to tickle your taste buds. If you didn't get a chance to read the stories in the Visitors Guide check back soon and we'll have the new 2008 Visitors Guide available online!

Greening of Grand Rapids

Read Peter M. Wege's book Economicology: The Eleventh Commandment. Learn more about Wege's environmental philanthropy. Read the Healing our Waters report on how to restore the Great Lakes. Check out the work of Healthy Lakes.

Visit LEED-certified buildings in Grand Rapids. Find LEED projects in your city or state. LEED projects must be registered before becoming certified. Browse LEED guidelines for various new and renovated building types.

Best Beaches

Get driving directions and check costs at Michigan's West Coast beaches.

Rent boards or kites, book lessons, and learn more about kiteboarding.

Find current water temperatures at local Lake Michigan beaches.

An Easy Place for Conventions

Lions Club International
met at DeVos Place

Meeting professionals at the Grand Rapids Convention & Visitors Bureau will help you every step of the way, just as they did for the 2007 gatherings of Community Leadership Association, National Rural Letter Carriers' Association, and USA/Canada Lions Leadership Forum.

Read about key people from these gatherings to see what your group has in common with them.

• "Community leadership groups promote civic engagement. We develop and engage an effective, diverse network of community trustees. They work for the betterment of the community as volunteers, board members, and nonprofit staff.
  Leadership Grand Rapids is an anomaly in that it's part of the local chamber of commerce. Our chamber which is all about supporting its members by supporting the community," says Kevin Stotts, executive director of Leadership Grand Rapids. He chaired the host committee for the Community Leadership Association conference in Grand Rapids in May 2007.
• "Lions International is the world's largest volunteer service organization, with 1.3 million members in 200 countries. The Lions' primary mission is ending preventable blindness. I've been a Lion for more than 20 years," says Gary Anderson, an optometrist and owner of Anderson Eye Care.
  His Lions service has included providing eye exams and glasses at a low-income clinic in Grand Rapids, collecting used eye glasses for annual vision mission trips to Central America, and serving on the Board of Michigan Eye-Bank, which oversees corneal tissue donations in three states.
  "For the last few years, I put in a couple hours a day as host committee chair," Anderson says. "Our committee had 26 subcommittees. We made all the local stuff happen, from arranging airport transportation and hospitality rooms to finding choirs or color guards for opening ceremonies.
  "The cooperation I see here between the convention and visitors bureau, hotels, and convention center is something I've never seen at previous forums. Here, I could go to Tim Nelson or Bob Snyders at the CVB, and they could make it happen. Or they had the contacts, whether for publicity displays or something else, to get things done," Anderson says.
• "The main goal of our annual national convention is to conduct the business of the National Rural Letter Carriers Association, Auxiliary (spouses), and Junior Auxiliary (children and grand children). Besides business sessions, we have seminars, caucuses, special group breakfasts, luncheons, adult banquet, juniors banquet, country store, exhibits and booths, and a kickoff reception.
  "DeVos Place has large exhibit halls so was perfect for the Association meeting. Its many smaller rooms worked well for our specialty meetings, press room, offices, caucus rooms, country stores, and so on. Our auxiliaries met in the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel, so it was a plus to have the headquarters hotel so close to other meetings areas. And the skywalk put us close to other hotels," says Cyndy Keyes, who co-chaired the host committee for the NRLCA convention in Grand Rapids.
  Her husband, Bob, served as chair. For almost three decades, Bob Keyes delivered mail to a 55-mile, 550-box route in rural southeast Michigan. After retiring, he was named Michigan Rural Letter Carrier Member of the Year.
  The Keyes spent five years on the host committee and had 16 subcommittees. Their responsibilities included inviting the governor, Grand Rapids mayor, and Grand Rapids postmaster to speak. The commissioned the convention gavel, made from birds eye maple by a fellow rural carrier in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

You might like to check out testimonials from others who've had conventions here, see who else is meeting in Grand Rapids, and look at ways our CVB staff can help you plan your conference.

Locally Grown = Great Picnics

Learn more about places mentioned in this story: Sweetwater Local Foods Market, Grand Rapids Fulton Street Farmers Market, Spice Merchants East, Grand River Grocery, and D&W Fresh Foods.

Check out West Michigan Fresh, a fantastic online guide to local farm markets, U-pick and already-picked produce, and more.

Another excellent source is Local Harvest.

Extraordinary Restaurants

Marie Catrib

Visit restaurants mentioned in this story: Bistro Bella Vita, Restaurant Bloom, Grand Traverse Pie Company, Heritage Restaurant, Marco New American Bistro, Marie Catrib's, and Scalawag's.

Find other local foods restaurants within an easy drive from Grand Rapids. Some are listed on West Michigan Fresh, others on Local Harvest.

Learn more about culinary arts and other hospitality education programs at Grand Rapids Community College.

Outdoor Recreation

Check out more outdoor recreation options in Grand Rapids. During the summer at John Ball Zoo, you can feed budgies (Australian birds), pet farm animals, ride a camel, pedal a swan boat, and get a bird's eye view by riding a zip line above the exhibits.

Kent Trails starts just outside John Ball Zoo. You can bike this easy paved path to Millennium Park for a swim or picnic.

Bring your bicycle to Grand Rapids and explore some bike trails. Sure bets include Kent Trails, Fred Meijer White Pine Trail State Park, Fred Meijer Heartland Trail, and Musketawa Trail.

For scenic fall color tours, whether by road bike or car, consider this northeast route. Or download detailed bicycle route maps near Grand Rapids or in Allegan County (Fennville and Saugatuck).

Book a personal trainer session with Jen Byrne. Or while you're in town, exercise with Jen Byrne during a session of her Full Mighty class at The Armenta Studio.

Urban Adventures

Monitor construction progress at Van Andel Institute.

Ted Lott is a principal at Lott3Metz Architecture, which belongs to the U.S. Green Building Council and does a lot of urban construction and renovation. Lott3Metz is working with Midtown Neighborhood Association and other firms to revitalize the Brikyaat (Dutch for brickyard) neighborhood. Plans call for enclosing part of Grand Rapids Fulton Street Farmers Market for year-round access and improving housing. Keep up on Brikyaat development by following this thread.

Enjoy a self-guided Grand Rapids walking or driving tour. Find outdoor murals. Photograph your favorite outdoor sculptures or simply enjoy researching Grand Rapids sculptures online.

Love to dance? Pick up your feet at a Grand Rapids ethnic festival. Book a bachelorette party (no bachelor parties) to learn belly dancing from Laura Armenta. Sign up for a salsa dance class at The Armenta Studio. See whether your schedule matches Armenta's one-time dance workshops. Catch a family-oriented At-Neemrah dance show at Mezze Cafe and Cabaret - and then get out of your seat and onto the dance floor. It's fun!

Read the Grand Rapids Magazine feature "Living It Up Downtown."