Good Afternoon, Grand Rapids.

Today’s issue of Calder News is hitting your inbox a little later than usual because I forgot to let Jenny know how we’d be handling work on Memorial Day. Whoops.

Hint: like everyone else, we didn’t work. So I spent 3 hours of my morning catching up on what’s shaking around town.

And to be fair, it wasn’t much shaking after a long weekend, so newsletter this will be a quick one. Lets dive in!

~LeQwane L.

Together with: ArtPrize

Have a creation you’ve been dying to show off? Well, I have good news. ArtPrize registration was just extended to June 11th.

ArtPrize, the international art festival that covers the city during September and October, not only provides a chance to show off your creativity and skill but also offers opportunities to win cash and awards, not to mention accolades from friends, neighbors, and art aficionados.

Artists have begun pairing up with their venues, so act fast to secure the right site for your masterpiece.

P.S. If you have a venue and want festival foot traffic, ArtPrize is also accepting venue registrations.

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A briefing of local news that matters

Housing

The GR contractor and builder, Rockford, is looking to revitalize a part of an office building located next to its headquarters at 614 First St. NW (near Bridge St.). Starting in July, the builder will redevelop a portion of the building’s space into 13 new apartment buildings. The conversion is expected to cost around $2.65M, with ~$1.3M of the funding coming from a grant from the state. Read more here. ($)

Have news to report? Click here.

If you were around Grand Rapids before 2005, you probably saw a movie at Studio 28.

Jack Loeks (founder of Celebration Cinema/ Studio C) opened it on Christmas Day, 1965, as a single 1,000-seat screen on 28th Street in Wyoming, and kept expanding until it hit 20 screens in 1988.

This gave the theater the title of the largest “single building” movie theater in the USA for a while.

And Studio 28 still holds a single-day attendance record from November 29, 1990, when it served 16,000 guests during the opening weeks of Home Alone and Dances with Wolves.

The theater showed its last movie in 2008 and was demolished in 2014, but its original sign was saved and now hangs at Celebration Cinema downtown as a tribute to where it all started.

See vintage photos of Studio 28 here.

Vintage is the new wave. Backwards Compatible, a vintage vinyl, record, and CD shop on Eastern Ave., is celebrating its shop’s 6-month anniversary with customer gratitude, new hours, and new staff.

A new antique store opened its doors over Memorial Day Weekend. Raven’s Antique and Collectibles features dozens of vendors and is located in a historic building at 1750 Clyde Park Ave SW. Another solid option to check out if you’re a thrift lover.

Together with: Merchants and Makers

Merchants and Makers is hosting their second shop of the season, The John Ball Zoo Market, on May 30th.

From 9 AM - 4 PM, you can scout over 100 local makers, as well as enjoy live music, the zoo (if you want), and a range of local food trucks.

Outside of a sweet location for a market, the best part is that this one is free for the community.

So if you’re making plans for this weekend, Merchants and Makers at John Ball Zoo might be a great place to spend some time.

*Shows are subject to change, but that’s show biz.

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