I grew up surrounded by music, from piano lessons to playing viola for six years as an adolescent…read more My former viola teacher is a member of the Grand Rapids Symphony and I always enjoy seeing her perform. The GRS is currently shut down due to COVID-19 but they have been providing videos of symphony members performing in their "From Our Home to Yours" video series which can be found on their Facebook page and YouTube channel. These performances are so beautiful and I love that we can still enjoy the music that they provide, even if we're all staying in our homes. Throughout a regular season, the GRS has so many fun performances for everyone, even if you're not a classical music fan. I personally love classical music, but their movie score play-along events are really amazing. I love the Home Alone performance they do every year. Picnic Pops is also a great concert series that takes place at Cannonsburg each summer. The arts community needs our support and if you have the means to do so, you can donate money to this treasure of a nonprofit.

My mom and me arrived just in time, I bought tickets to see the Snowman. I was excited because I…read morelove the Symphony. Our symphony was great and there was an interactive part that the attendees got to be partake. Adult and kids were able to partake in the concert. The words were on the screen and we sang lod and proud some Christmas carols. When I lived in San Diego, I went to see the Symphony at least every two months, so I was excited to see my new symphony play. I can't explain how I feel when I hear those talented musicians play their hearts out. The passion is so evident and every chance i get i will continue to attend. Thank you Grand Rapids Symphony!

EVERYONE STANDS UP AND YOU CAN'T SEE ANYTHING!!! I have only been here once and we rented the white…read morechairs because we didn't have chairs that met the garden's specific measurements. I figured since it was a lawn show, and everyone brings chairs, we would all be seated to enjoy the show. Nope. As soon as the headliner came on, every single person was standing for the entire show. You will not be able to see anything and it takes away from the concert. The acoustics were really good tho. There are baseball stadium like seats that are elevated in the back, I don't know if those would be any better, but that section was all sitting. We traveled from Detroit, so 2+ hours, and a hotel for the night. I don't feel this venue is even close to worth what we paid.

absolutely trash business model! they allow scalpers to buy 8 tickets per transaction!!! i waited…read morein line with a special code and it sold out in minutes! why give a special fan code if you allowed scalpers to buy so many tickets. this place is trash

As a 49 year old tradition in Grand Rapids, I feel that tug to return every year. I agree with…read moresome of the comments I have seen regarding the level of the arts presentations the last few years. The live performance art is well covered but I wonder if because of Art Prize we won't see the amount of art exhibits that we were used to in the past. I do miss that. The food this year was good. Seems to be a lot of the crowd favorites and that is good. Maybe a little more variety and maybe more food booths could be added? I don't think that the food is overpriced since some the organizations make this their largest fund raiser during the year. Cannot wait until next year to celebrate the 50th!

I will be honest, I am completely biased about Festival. I love it. It's family; some of my…read moreearliest memories are volunteering at Festival and my family's involvement had a monumental impact on my life. I've lived away from GR for a number of years now and wasn't able to attend a few Festivals - being away has made me appreciate it even more. The accessibility to art is unprecedented (this includes performance and visual art) and all of the food booths are run by local non-profits. This thing we simply call, "Festival" is no doubt part of what puts GR and West MI on the map. Oh, and if you were the least bit curious... this is one of the largest all-volunteer run events in the country and occurs the first full weekend of every June.

2022 drink and food ticket system was WAY better than 2021s. Signs of improvement are wonderful…read more Had a great time again. Even had the honor of running into our Yelp leader Katy! Definitely the best event in November, hands down. In 2021 we went late, 2022 early, and I can say that our experience was so much better when we went early. We could actually walk, and get drinks without waiting in lines, or asking people to move who wanted to talk in front of booths. There were tables available to sit and eat, or listen to the music. Highly recommend going early if you have the ability to.

This annual event is definitely one for anyone who likes to eat or drink. With over 1,200 wines,…read morebeers, ciders, and spirits to try, as well as plated dinners, cooking demos, items for sale, small plates and samples galore, there's something for everyone at the International Wine, Beer, and Food Festival each year. I've been attending this festival for the past several years and it's always fun. Here are my tips: -Dress in layers and take advantage of the complimentary coat check. It can get a little chilly in the beer room, but you might not want to be holding your coat the whole time if you get warm. -Bring a small tote bag if you like free stuff or want to buy things. Lots of the beer booths have free swag and you may end up purchasing items as well. -Wear comfortable shoes. The beer room floors are all polished concrete, which can be hard on the feet. -Eat a little beforehand if you're mostly interested in drinking. Or check out some of the great local food options at the festival! -Check the prices on food items. In 2022 they had cash pricing as well as ticketed prices for most of the food booths, and often the cash prices were a better deal. Most of the vendors took credit cards. -The best time to go is usually early on Friday. Lines can get long and it can be a bit crowded on Saturday or in the evenings. I love going to the Festival and finding new favorites. It's a great way to sample things without having to buy a whole can or six pack of a beer or cider. I found a seltzer from Austin that I really enjoyed and ended up buying from a local store after the festival. I also ended up buying some salami chips for my Thanksgiving charcuterie board! Other favorites included Odd Brothers Cider out of Homer, Michigan, and local lychee vodka. I was happy to see more non-alcoholic options being offered and finally got to try the Liquid Death water. I'm already looking forward to next year!

I had a great time at the Donut and Beer Festival! My boyfriend and I both had VIP tickets so we…read morewere able to get in an hour early. I would highly recommend this route as it got pretty crowded on the concourse during the regular hours of the festival. The booths were set up all over the main concourse as well as on some of the other seating areas throughout the ballpark. Everything was set up well and the maps provided were accurate and helpful. I was able to make notes of the items I wanted to try. The VIP area was a little lackluster but it was nice to have a place inside to sit down. The band was fun and there were people playing the games. I also loved the inflatable props for photo opportunities! Everyone at the event seemed so happy and having a great time.

ArtPrize is a yearly event that brings thousands of visitors to the downtown Grand Rapids area each…read morefall. The event has changed throughout the past 15 years it's been around, but it typically entails hundreds of art entries that are displayed downtown. Some are inside businesses, some are out on the street, and some are a bit hidden. There is a contest element to the event, with public vote winners as well as juried vote winners. I've always taken a very laid back approach to ArtPrize, preferring to just stumble upon installations as I make my normal way around the city. But there are venues that have large concentrations of art, including DeVos Place, the Grand Rapids Art Museum, and more. I think it would be impossible to see every single piece! ArtPrize maps are not really a "thing" - there was a web based map in 2024 but I found it super clunky and not at all user friendly. The event brings tons of people into the downtown area, making it really congested with traffic as well as a lot of foot traffic - I typically try to avoid driving downtown during this time. Overall it's an interesting event that has a lot of discourse around it (both positive and negative), but something to check out if you're interested in art.

ArtPrize--or BoobyPrize??? Navigating around ArtPrize is an…read moreAbsolute nightmare. We wanted to take Our bikes around downtown and were told- no bikes allowed- seriously? We rode bikes all Over DC and Loved it! The QR system was an epic fail. The "interactive link" only linked me To the personal information of the creator Of said failed map. We wandered looking around for the art. No physical maps were available -- the concierge at the Amway Hotel didn't even have a map- nor did the assistant at the Devoss center. I never saw an Art Prize volunteer the entire day. If you're having out-of-area visitors it would be nice to offer some guidance: such as Where to park, information that you can only use city bikes. It would have been nice to click on the QR codes and have more information about the piece or the artist available. Scanning the QR did not work for voting, even after I registered. It kept saying it needed to change my locations setting.( which was set correctly ) And for an art exhibit, the signage stunk!!! Do you want people to actually read what you wrote? Then how about printing in a decent size font and posting the information higher than 2 feet off the ground! Ugh. Fun Day? More like frustrating.

About to go to my 4th Hippie Fest this weekend! I go with very special people to me. It's the…read moreperfect get away and my favorite trip to look forward to all year. You are going to exactly what you would think for this event and it's better than that in person. Great and interesting vendors, fun food and live music.

I was way disappointed with my visit here. It sounded fun from the description, but the stuff they…read moreshowed us were very simple. Putting dry ice is soapy water isn't that impressive. Every "experiment" they had seemed to come out of the back of a comic book. They had the little plastic device that makes a tornado between two 2 liter bottles, bolts that were in a box of rice that were pulled out by a magnetic bingo chip collector a small plasma energy ball. My 9 year old son was very bored and happy to leave. The younger kids seemed to be having a good time. I could have bought every "experiment" myself and still been cheaper than what they charged for the visit.

We just had my sons 6th birthday party here and I highly recommend it. The kids had an absolute…read moreblast. We did the dry ice add on and was glad we did. Smles the whole time I have a hard time picking a favorite part. Hats off to Mike because this was a rowdy bunch and had the humor and patience to deal. Emily was extremely helpful every step of the party. If you're thinking about something new and unique for a party DO IT!