Registration

Learn about the history of ArtPrize and the significance of Rosa Parks Circle and Ecliptic. Your lively guide will introduce you to the magnificent artwork of 4 of the 5 commissioned artists. The creations are strategically placed outside in this historical heart of the city.  You are invited to gaze upon, touch, or climb atop the creations.  The back stories will inspire you. If time allows, you will also learn about other nearby public sculpture.

Fulton Street Graveyard 

175+ years ago, in 1838, the new village of Grand Rapids opened their first public graveyard – just 12 years after the arrival of Louis Campau. As the first and the oldest graveyard in Grand Rapids history, these humble monuments and graves commemorate fascinating lives of first generation G-Rap colonists. Aren’t you just dying to know WHO? Enjoy a dramatic narrative while we wander through this quiet place of remembrance.  Hop aboard the time machine… and see where original pioneer settlers of Grand Rapids lay in rest. 

Learn about the history of ArtPrize and the significance of Rosa Parks Circle and Ecliptic. Your lively guide will introduce you to the magnificent artwork of 4 of the 5 commissioned artists. The creations are strategically placed outside in this historical heart of the city.  You are invited to gaze upon, touch, or climb atop the creations.  The back stories will inspire you. If time allows, you will also learn about other nearby public sculpture.

Saints & Spirits

The bucolic grounds of Aquinas College abound with not only beauty, but historically intriguing stories of earlier lives who traversed the woods, gardens and streams. Learn about the property that was once a dairy farm,  a proper estate, a business college and now a renowned Catholic academic institution. The tour will visit today’s campus buildings that date from the original Lowe family era:  the mansion, carriage house, stables, winery, and gatehouse.  We will also investigate various landmarks on campus which foster superstitious traditions.  And maybe, just maybe, we witness a spirit of haunted Holmdene before we peek at Brookby, a “related” mansion just around the corner.  This tour meets at the front entrance of the college off Fulton, at the Saint Thomas Aquinas sculpture.

Learn about the history of ArtPrize and the significance of Rosa Parks Circle and Ecliptic. Your lively guide will introduce you to the magnificent artwork of 4 of the 5 commissioned artists. The creations are strategically placed outside in this historical heart of the city.  You are invited to gaze upon, touch, or climb atop the creations.  The back stories will inspire you. If time allows, you will also learn about other nearby public sculpture.

Grand Rapids Most Haunted

Do you believe in ghosts, ghouls, poltergeists, apparitions, phantoms, spooks, psychic phenomena or things that go “bump” in the night? If one person sees a ghost, even if several times, you may blame it on an active imagination; but if two or more people see the same spirit in the same place several years apart, you may just reconsider.  This tour takes you by iconic locations where there have been waaaaay MORE than just two sightings or unusual activity.   There are two questions that we attempt to answer on this spooky journey…Who suffered a tragic death here and is still hanging around?  And is this LEGEND or REAL? 

Twinklin’ Holiday Lights

Are you feeling festive, fun, and frisky?  Come dressed in your finest holiday running sweater or tutu or tights as we celebrate the holiday season together.  Experience downtown Grand Rapids bejeweled and illuminated with both contemporary and nostalgic lighting displays.  The group will wander by uniquely special places, some of which will evoke warm feelings from Christmas’s past.  And as a gesture of community kindness, we will give vouchers for meals at Dégagé Ministries for those we pass who may be in need.  

If we review the demographic changes over the less-than-200 years that Grand Rapids has been a city on the banks of the Grand River, the ethnic makeup of our population has shifted dramatically.  This walking tour specifically examines the African American population from 1826 until present.  The remarkable people, places, events, issues…the legends and facts about what it meant to be black in Grand Rapids. 

If we review the demographic changes over the less-than-200 years that Grand Rapids has been a city on the banks of the Grand River, the ethnic makeup of our population has shifted dramatically.  This walking tour specifically examines the African American population from 1826 until present.  The remarkable people, places, events, issues…the legends and facts about what it meant to be black in Grand Rapids. 

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. Magnificent ice statues are created by The Food Network and local champion ice carver, Randy Finch. 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 join your guide to learn more about sub-zero art and the intriguing back stories.