Grand Rapids Official Visitor Guide 2010 - Bonus Section

Did you enjoy reading our stories in the 2010 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 2010 Visitors Guide available online!

Gather at the River

Meeting professionals at the Grand Rapids Convention & Visitors Bureau will help you every step of the way, just as they did for the 2009 gathering of the United Church of Christ (UCC). Check out local news coverage of the UCC 27th General Synod.

The UCC 27th General Synod arranged service projects that helped its many youth delegates connect with nonprofits in Grand Rapids. One site, United Church Outreach Ministry, hosted 50 different volunteers for each of three days.

According to Chronicle of Philanthropy, West Michigan ranks second in the nation for percentage of discretionary income given to charity by residents.  And since West Michigan has hundreds of nonprofits, you’ll find lots of options if you want to include a service project in your meeting, conference, or convention.

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.

Local Food: from Farm to Table

Learn more about restaurants mentioned in this story:

• Bistro Bella Vita, 44 Grandville Ave. SW, (616) 222-4600
• Brick Road Pizza, 1017 Wealthy Street SE, (616) 719-2409
• The Electric Cheetah, 1015 Wealthy Street SE, (616) 451-4779
• Gilmore Collection Restaurants, 15 locations in West Michigan
• The Green Well Gastro Pub, 924 Cherry Street SE, (616) 808-3566
• Restaurant Bloom, 40 Monroe Center NW, (616) 632-2233
• San Chez Bistro, 38 W. Fulton Street, (616) 774-8272
• six.one.six. in JW Marriott, >235 Louis Street NW, (616) 242-1448

Follow VoteWithUrFork on Twitter to get the latest news nuggets about local foods, farms, and restaurants in West Michigan.

Read about Helen Lundberg, her husband, Dave Ingraberg, and other sustainable farmers who supply local restaurants. Watch a brief video about chef Patrick Wise.

Buy directly from farmers at Grand Rapids Fulton Street Farmers Market. Check out West Michigan Fresh, a fantastic online guide to local farm markets as well as grocers and restaurants featuring local food. Another excellent source is Local Harvest. Make tasty memories at a farm or orchard where you can pick your own produce.

Local Arts: So Many Ways to Connect

Intrigued by fabric artist Shelly Klein and her whimsical creations? You can order directly from k studio to get pillows, wall art, or bags customized to your specifications.

See why the first ArtPrize competition got so much media, including from Forbes and The New York Times. It’s not only that ArtPrize is open to any artist age 18 and up…or that it offers the world’s largest prize for art…or that anyone who registers in person may vote for the winners…or that the entire downtown becomes a free art gallery. You’ll want to come experience for yourself how ArtPrize—September 24-October 9, 2010—offers an unmatched opportunity to interact with and make art.

Sign up for the Rob Bliss Events Facebook page so you can get in on quirky local events like zombie walks and outdoor electronic music events. Enjoy folk dancing and other participatory arts opportunities at Community Media Center. Join a free improve jam during Comedy Mondays at Dog Story Theater.

The best websites for finding almost 200 downtown and metro-area sculptures are www.sculpturesitesgr.org and www.grsculpture.com. Read about or download downtown walking tours of sculptures and architecture.

Open-Air Dining

It's good to know the weather forecast if you're planning to eat outside. The Weather Channel's website, www.weather.com, lets you download all kinds of goodies to your desktop, phone or PDA for minute-by-minute updates.

Many of the restaurants profiled in our guide take pride in using locally grown ingredients. You can do the same at home. To find the best organic food that's grown close by, visit www.localharvest.org. Search for local farmers markets, family farms and other sources of sustainably grown food in the Grand Rapids area. The site even has a catalog for items you can't find. 

Chef Peter Hamm prepares delectable fusion dishes for his followers at The Republic. OK, so what exactly is fusion cuisine? You'll find a good explanation (complete with bibliography) at www.answers.com/topic/fusion-cuisine.

Curious about the cask conditioned ale served at the two Graydon's Crossings in town? Check out www.cask-ale.co.uk/us/realale.html for an opinionated take on the subject by an aficionado. Another good site on the subject: www.camra.org.uk/page.aspx?o=aboutale

The spectacularly restored D.A. Blodgett Home for Children next to The Green Well has quite a history. Learn about it at www.grandrapidshistory.org.

Craft Beers

Local flavor on tap

Visiting breweries in West Michigan might inspire you to try making your own beer. Find everything you need (except a really cool name for your product) at sites like www.brewyourownbrew.com, www.homebrewheaven.com and www.monsterbrew.com.

According to a recent world review on ratebeer.com, The Best Beers in the World 2010, Founders Brewing Company, a West Michigan brewery, ranked 8th for their Kentucky Breakfast Stout and others were in the top 20 as well as Bells Brewery for a variety of their brews. In the category of Best Brewers in the World, Founders Brewing Company and Bells Brewery were ranked 4th and 5th.

Biking Grand Rapids

See the city up close

Keep your bicycle in tip-top shape by following a good maintenance program. Any one of the bike shops in Grand Rapids will knowledgeably show you how, or visit sites like www.bikewebsite.com or www.bicycletutor.com (which has videos of maintenance and repair in action).

Keep yourself in tip-top shape by learning and faithfully following good bike safety tips: www.bicyclesafe.com.  

The newest bike trail in Grand Rapids, the Fred Meijer Millennium Trail, is getting rave reviews. Its benefactor has always believed that people in the city need a bit of the country to help keep them sane. Read about Fred Meijer's contributions to bicycling in Grand Rapids at www.meijer.com.

The Motion Initiative shares Fred Meijer's passion for bicycling. The inner-city bike ministry's mission is to bring adventure, freedom and hope through cycling to inner city youth in Grand Rapids. Visit its site at www.mibike.org.

Grand Finds

Pride of place

Interested in finding other famous people who have connections to Michigan? Check the "History, Arts and Libraries" section of the state's office website at www.michigan.gov.

Can't get enough of the "Twilight" series and its movies? Visit the official website at www.thetwilightsaga.com.

In the category of "destined to be famous someday" is the aptly named Rob Bliss. Only in his early 20s and still a college student, Bliss has been supplying quirky fun to Grand Rapids in the form of mass pillow fights and zombie walks that have attracted thousands of delighted participants. His latest event was the dropping of hundreds of thousands of colorful paper airplanes on downtown to help kick off ArtPrize. Bliss, a music major at Grand Rapids Community College, insists he was shy growing up. Clearly he's gotten over that--to everyone's benefit. Visit his Facebook page at www.facebook.com/rob.bliss

Grand Rapids is creating its own star power. The city's approachable, girl-next-door quality is attracting moviemakers who need a middle-America backdrop for their storytelling. The city recently starred alongside Val Kilmer, Armand Assante and Eric Roberts in "The Steam Experiment," a thriller directed by Philippe Martinez. More productions are in the works, spurred by Michigan's best-in-the-industry tax incentives. Meanwhile, the Grand Rapids Film Festival is heading into its second year: www.grfilmfestival.com.

Walkable Art

Talent on a grand scale

Grand Rapids' devotion to public art--accessible to all--was wonderfully evident during ArtPrize, the city's open invitation to artists everywhere to show their talent to the public. Visit the official site: www.artprize.org.

Explore the fascinating life of American sculptor Alexander Calder at www.calder.org.

Corrado Joseph Parducci's Art Deco reliefs on the facade of the Civic Auditorium might inspire you to learn more about Art Deco artists of the 1920s and 1930s. Visit www.artcyclopedia.com.