Registration

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.

Quarterly, we plan to meet outside of the historic Masonic Center, 233 Fulton St. E, Grand Rapids, 49503, on the ground floor of the FREE parking ramp.  We’ll run for 45 minutes through downtown Grand Rapids, with seasonally appropriate tour narration by Caroline Cook, owner of Grand Rapids Running Tours, then move inside the Armentality Movement Arts Center studio with owner, Laura Armenta, for 45 minutes of restorative yoga.  The event is limited to 20 participants…pre-registration is necessary.

Combine a trail run with yoga (RUNGA!) and you will experience exercise bliss.  We meet at the Visitor Center of Blandford Nature Center, then hit the trails after a brief lesson on the history of BNC and its buildings, beasts (friendly), and bark.  Our 45 minute run will take us to the adjacent Highlands for 45 minutes of refreshing yoga.  What a delightful way to begin your Saturday in July!

Heritage Hill Hauntings

Are you surprised that there are ghosts on Heritage Hill?  Don’t be.  The stately homes of Heritage Hills may reflect the grace, dignity and formality of another era, but because most of these Victorian dwellings were built in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, ghost stories abound. Tenacious and playful spirits are still hanging around.  Some of the accounts are scary, some silly, some believable, some not.  Some are legends from long ago, some are recent.  We will explore this beautiful neighborhood while your guide tells spooky tales that have been passed on to us by either present or once-occupants of the houses. 

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?