Grand Rapidians believe that winter is a season to be LOVED, celebrated and enjoyed outside, so DowntownGrandRapidsInc organizes World of Winter: A Festival of Frozen Fun each February during Valentine’s Day week. This annual icy extravaganza includes ice skating, sledding, skiing, snowboarding, ice games like Human Hungry Hungry Hippo and Valent-ICE sculptures.  The magnificent ice statues are created by The Food Network and local champion ice carvers and business owners, Randy Finch and Derek Maxfield.  Over 50 incredible, unique sculptures are on display downtown during the festival…some life-size, some interactive, all lighted and the selection is different each year. Bundle up, then walk or run with your local guide, Caroline Cook, to learn more about sub-zero art and the intriguing back stories.

Meets at Rosa Parks Circle in front of the Grand Rapids Art Museum.

Grand Rapidians believe that winter is a season to be LOVED, celebrated and enjoyed outside, so DowntownGrandRapidsInc organizes World of Winter: A Festival of Frozen Fun each February during Valentine’s Day week. This annual icy extravaganza includes ice skating, sledding, skiing, snowboarding, ice games like Human Hungry Hungry Hippo and Valent-ICE sculptures.  The magnificent ice statues are created by The Food Network and local champion ice carvers and business owners, Randy Finch and Derek Maxfield.  Over 50 incredible, unique sculptures are on display downtown during the festival…some life-size, some interactive, all lighted and the selection is different each year. Bundle up, then walk or run with your local guide, Caroline Cook, to learn more about sub-zero art and the intriguing back stories.

Tour meets at Rosa Parks Circle.

Historically, a myriad of cultural influences shaped our city then – and are what make Grand Rapids unique today.  We are home to people of every race, color, religion, lifestyle, gender, age, marital status, handicap, socio-economic status and national origin.    Each group has indelibly contributed to the evolution of individual neighborhoods, the  whole city, and this West Michigan region.  Today, our living kaleidoscope is a vibrant, intensely colorful and rich community that thrives upon collaboration while honoring diversity. 

Few African Americans came to West Michigan until after the Civil War, fleeing Jim Crow discrimination in the southern states. Even then, the numbers were relatively small. It wasn’t until the Great Migration from the rural south, in the years between World Wars I and II, that our African-American population swelled. 

This tour is meant to serve as a short summary of some select historical highlights.

Grand Rapidians believe that winter is a season to be LOVED, celebrated and enjoyed outside, so DowntownGrandRapidsInc organizes World of Winter: A Festival of Frozen Fun each February during Valentine’s Day week. This annual icy extravaganza includes ice skating, sledding, skiing, snowboarding, ice games like Human Hungry Hungry Hippo and Valent-ICE sculptures.  The magnificent ice statues are created by The Food Network and local champion ice carvers and business owners, Randy Finch and Derek Maxfield.  Over 50 incredible, unique sculptures are on display downtown during the festival…some life-size, some interactive, all lighted and the selection is different each year. Bundle up, then walk or run with your local guide, Caroline Cook, to learn more about sub-zero art and the intriguing back stories.

Tour meets at Rosa Parks Circle.

Grand Rapidians believe that winter is a season to be LOVED, celebrated and enjoyed outside, so DowntownGrandRapidsInc organizes World of Winter: A Festival of Frozen Fun each February during Valentine’s Day week. This annual icy extravaganza includes ice skating, sledding, skiing, snowboarding, ice games like Human Hungry Hungry Hippo and Valent-ICE sculptures.  The magnificent ice statues are created by The Food Network and local champion ice carvers and business owners, Randy Finch and Derek Maxfield.  Over 50 incredible, unique sculptures are on display downtown during the festival…some life-size, some interactive, all lighted and the selection is different each year. Bundle up, then walk or run with your local guide, Caroline Cook, to learn more about sub-zero art and the intriguing back stories.

Tour meets at Rosa Parks Circle.

Grand Rapidians believe that winter is a season to be LOVED, celebrated and enjoyed outside, so DowntownGrandRapidsInc organizes World of Winter: A Festival of Frozen Fun each February during Valentine’s Day week. This annual icy extravaganza includes ice skating, sledding, skiing, snowboarding, ice games like Human Hungry Hungry Hippo and Valent-ICE sculptures.  The magnificent ice statues are created by The Food Network and local champion ice carvers and business owners, Randy Finch and Derek Maxfield.  Over 50 incredible, unique sculptures are on display downtown during the festival…some life-size, some interactive, all lighted and the selection is different each year. Bundle up, then walk or run with your local guide, Caroline Cook, to learn more about sub-zero art and the intriguing back stories.

Tour meets at Rosa Parks Circle.

Grand Rapidians believe that winter is a season to be LOVED, celebrated and enjoyed outside, so DowntownGrandRapidsInc organizes World of Winter: A Festival of Frozen Fun each February during Valentine’s Day week. This annual icy extravaganza includes ice skating, sledding, skiing, snowboarding, ice games like Human Hungry Hungry Hippo and Valent-ICE sculptures.  The magnificent ice statues are created by The Food Network and local champion ice carvers and business owners, Randy Finch and Derek Maxfield.  Over 50 incredible, unique sculptures are on display downtown during the festival…some life-size, some interactive, all lighted and the selection is different each year. Bundle up, then walk or run with your local guide, Caroline Cook, to learn more about sub-zero art and the intriguing back stories.

Tour meets at Rosa Parks Circle.

A FREE seven-week series of 45 minute walks through downtown Grand Rapids.  Participants will enjoy a unique tour each week, traversing the sidewalks while focusing on a theme, narrated by Caroline.
For walkers who complete all seven events, they will be rewarded with a $50 gift card to a downtown merchant of their choice.  
The walks will meet in the lobby of the JW Marriott on Wednesdays at noon. 

During Laughfest 2019, journey through the history of entertainment venues and leisure activities in Grand Rapids from old vaudeville to today’s arenas, theaters and stages.  Local tour guide, Caroline Cook, will narrate as you move through downtown, telling the stories of amusement through the ages in Grand Rapids in this specially created, one-hour tour.  Learn while you burn!

Registration is necessary.

During Laughfest 2019, journey through the history of entertainment venues and leisure activities in Grand Rapids from old vaudeville to today’s arenas, theaters and stages.  Local tour guide, Caroline Cook, will narrate as you move through downtown, telling the stories of amusement through the ages in Grand Rapids in this specially created, one-hour tour.  Learn while you burn!

Registration is necessary.