Good morning, Grand Rapids. I’m LeQwane, and this is Calder News on a nice, cold Friday morning. I hope you had an amazing week.
Make sure to finish strong and get that well-deserved relaxation this weekend, folks. 🫡
~LeQwane L.
Bringing Back The Rapids
Experience GR
The city is putting the rapids back into Grand Rapids.
Back in the day (long before any of us), the Grand River was not what it is now. It was a prominent part of the city, filled with fish, real rapids, and just full of life.
In the past couple of years, we’ve lots of development in an effort to bring back all that lost energy to the riverfront. There are too many projects to name today.
And this week, the city approved ~$14.5M in funding for the Grand River Revitalization project itself.
The plan is to not only make the riverfront look nice, but to restore the river’s natural rapids, aquatic habitats for native fish, and further improve recreation along the water.
The Digest
A briefing of local news that matters
Civic
The GR City Commission meeting took place on Tuesday. Here’s a quick recap of what happened!
🪑 The commission has approved role appointements for the Urban Agriculture, Historic Preservation, Mobile GR, EDC/Brownfield, Parks Advisory, and Zoning Appeals boards ☀️ The city has approved a 25-year solar power agreement for the upcoming Butterworth Landfill 🌎 The EGLE received a $10K recycling grant 🚧 Major street projects were given the go ahead: Oakwood Ave, Oxford reconstruction, Monroe resurfacing 🏘 Public hearings were set for the upcoming Knapp Hills and Lake Eastbrook redevelopment projects - March 17th 🌊 The city gave a green light on $26M to go toward the Grand River Revitalization construction project
You can watch the meeting (or skip around) on YouTube.
Public
The Acrisure Amphitheater Experience
In Tuesday’s public safety meeting, officials chatted about how show days at the new Acrisure Amphitheater will feel like a downtown event, not a drive-up and park situation.
Encouraging you to plan a walk or use the free DASH, scooters, or bikes.
Mobile GR and GRPD say a more comprehensive plan for transportation, pedestrians, and parking is still being built.
As for safety, the city is planning on having a regular police presence at every show at the theatre. So there are also ongoing evaluations of the added costs for that!
Have news to report? Click here.
Beer Festival Kick-Off
Beer Fest at LMCU Ball Park | Joel Bissell
If you’re having a chill Saturday, it might be worth checking out this year’s Beer Festival!
Tomorrow (from 1–6 p.m.) at LMCU Ballpark in Comstock Park, this year’s Winter Beer Festival will bring ~450 beers from 90+ Michigan breweries, plus music, ice sculptures, fire pits, and more food options.
The biggest change from previous years is that there is no longer a token system for samples, and there are upgraded VIP options.
P.s I saw plenty of local breweries are also hosting their own post-Winter Beer Festival events. Do what you will with this information!
Talk Of The Town
🤖 GVSU Offers Free AI Literacy Course
Talk about timely! GVSU is hosting a self-paced, AI Literacy course to the public for free. The course will teach the basics of what AI is, how to use it, and the risks involved. Registrations open on March 2nd.
🍜 Noodle Fest Takes Over Downtown
The 5th Annual Noodle Fest is coming to downtown this Sunday. The free-to-attend event will fill Calder Plaza with about 20 local restaurant vendors (serving bowls for $6) to compete in a contest to determine who has the best dishes. The event kicks off at 11 AM and runs through 6 PM.
🤝 Uptown’s Impact Awards Return
The Uptown community has invited you to help shine a spotlight on the people and businesses doing amazing work in Uptown with its second annual Impact Awards. The event has a few categories, like Community Support Award, Legacy Business Awards, and Best Business Glow-up. You can make your vote here.
Business:
Comic Signal → The family-owned comic book store Comic Signal is celebrating its 10th anniversary this week. A birthday party is being held all day at its store this Saturday (comic artists pop-ups and meet and greets will occur!)
Closures
D1 Grand Rapids → Athletic center D1 Grand Rapids announced that it’s closing its doors on Saturday, February 28th.
Fazoli’s → The Fazoli’s located on Alpine permanently closed last weekend
Want to share good news with 7,000+ other GR locals?
What’s Happening?
Friday, February 27th
Swan Lake | DeVos Performance Hall | (Fri - Sun) Various times | ?
The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical | GR Civic Theatre | (2/27 - 3/15) Various times | $21+
West Michigan Home and Garden Show | DeVos Place | (Fri - Sun) Various times | $5+
Blacksmith Shop Open | Blandford Nature Center | 10 AM | Free
American Advertising Awards (Addys) 2026 | JW Marriott | 6 PM | $150
An Evening with Jim O'Heir | Wealthy Theatre | 6 PM | $30
Save The Lit Fundraiser | The Lit | 6 PM
Bonsai + Brews | Vivant Brewery | 6 PM | $80
Grand Rapids Griffins VS Iowa Wild | Van Andel Arena | (Fri, Sat) 7 PM | $29
Saturday, February 28th
Walk for Warmth | 121 MLK JR ST | 8:30 AM - 11 AM | Free
Human Hungry Hippo Tournament | Rosa Park Circle | 12:30 PM - 7 PM | Free (cost to play)
Annual Winter Beer Festival | LMCU Ballpark | 1 PM - 6 PM | $65
Dare to Be Weird | Founders | 6 PM | Free
Sat Night Show Vol 89 | AllArtWorks | 6 PM - 8 PM | Free
Krafts & Karaoke | SILVA | 7 PM | $11
Sunday, March 1st
Time to Paddy | Riverside Park | 6:30 AM - 11 AM | $17
Noodle Fest | Calder Plaza | 11 AM - 6 PM | Free to go
Monday, March 2nd
Intro to podcasting | 1110 Wealthy St. | 6 PM | $40+
Reading Club | Kusterer Brauhaus | 7 PM | Free
Live Music
Friday, February 27th
Nick Foresman | Ed Dunneback | 1 PM | Free
Tomas Esparza Blues Band | Horrocks Market | 5 PM | Free
Nothing More w/ Catch Your Breath, Archers and Doobie | GLC Live | 5:30 PM | $52+
Asamu Johnson and The Associates of The Blues | Chicago Beef Joint | 6 PM | Free
Artikal Sound System | The Stache | 7 PM | $20
OCEAN and the Universe | Public Thread | 7 PM | $10
Bluegrass Revue: Red Thyme + Futuretime Stringband + Ben Traverse | 311 Fuller | 7 PM | $7
Braxton Hicks and the Contractions + Moto + Death By Lions + Drama Team | Pyramid Scheme | 7 PM | $15
Battle of the Bands | The Intersection | 7 PM | $10
Spuddies | The Stray | 7 PM | Free
Chanticleer in Concert | First Park Church | 7:30 PM | $15+
Jessica Audiffred | The Intersection | 8 PM | $28
The Rupple Brothers and The Smokin' dobroleles | Tip Top | 8 PM | $17
Jason Eller | Garage Bar | 8 PM | Free
The Moonrays | Speciation Cellars | 8 PM | Free
Union Guns (Grand Opening) | Firebird Bar GR | 9 PM | $10
Driving in the Bike Lane / Five Dollar Felony / Kiwi Army | Mulligan’s Pub | 10 PM | free
Saturday, February 28th
Priscilla Block | The Intersection | 6:30 PM | $41
Mae Estes | The Interesection | 7 PM | $41
The Blues Brothers Experience | Wealthy Theatre | 7 PM | $40
Sweet Dee & The Wild Honeys | Chicago Beef Joint | 7 PM | $10
David Wimbish (The Collection) w/s/g Jesse James DeConto | The Stray | 7 PM | $18
A Traveling Wilburys Tribute | Midway | 7 PM | $30
LETDOWN. + Blame My Youth + LUCHIANO + YOUTHYEAR | Pyramid Scheme | 7:30 PM | $27
Together Again | Tip Top | 8 PM | $12
INFEKT | Elevation | 8:30 PM | $28
Drama Team, Brother Wolf & EPCYA | Mulligan’s Pub | 9 PM | Free
Sunday, March 1st
Brian Fedewa | Kusterer Brauhaus | 4 PM | Free
Elevation Nights | Van Andel Arena | 7 PM | $37
*Shows are subject to change, but that’s show biz.
That’s All For Today…
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