Did you enjoy reading our stories in the 2011 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 it out online!  

Area code is 616 for each phone number below.

ArtPrize Puts the Public Back into Art

Learn all you want to know about ArtPrize. Stay up on its latest news. Follow #ArtPrize on Twitter and see what others are tweeting about the event that transforms the entire downtown into a free art gallery. Nicole Caruth, a curator in New York, blogged about the first ArtPrize and interviewed the top prize winner, Ran Ortner.

Watch brief videos about Grand Rapids arts and culture on the Grand Rapids CVB YouTube channel.

The best website for finding almost 200 downtown and metro-area sculptures is www.sculpturesitesgr.org. Read about, listen to, or download Touring Tunes podcasts of downtown walking tours of sculptures and architecture. Listen to or download podcasts (some enhanced with photos) from Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park.

Meeting of the Minds

Whatever brings you to town, a tour of the city's many historic sites will be interesting and educational. The National Alliance of Preservation Commissions chose "beautiful, historic Grand Rapids" for its 2010 convention partly because of the city's respect for its past. Grand Rapids is home to four historic preservation districts, including Heritage Hill, one of the largest urban historic districts in the country. The neighborhood includes about 1,300 homes dating from 1848 and featuring some 60 architectural styles. The Heritage Hill Association, www.heritagehillweb.org/index.html, hosts an annual tour of the historic homes the first weekend of October. Group tours may be arranged any time of year. The city has three other historic districts - Heartside, Fairmount Square and Cherry Hill - as well as several historic buildings. The Grand Rapids Historic Preservation Commission offers information about the city's historic districts on its Web site, www.grand-rapids.mi.us/index.pl?page_id=2627.

Design for Growth

If you're meeting in Grand Rapids, you are surrounded by the area's history, art and culture. The Grand Rapids Art Museum, 101 Monroe Center, features its own collection of paintings, sculpture and furniture, as well as temporary exhibits. Through Feb. 16, 2011, the museum will showcase "Diana - a Celebration," honoring the life and humanitarian work of Diana, Princess of Wales. Hours and other exhibits are listed on the museum's Web site, www.artmuseumgr.org/.

A short walk across the Grand River, the Grand Rapids Public Museum, 272 Pearl St. NW, www.grmuseum.org/, features many temporary and permanent exhibits, including one telling the city's history as a furniture design and manufacturing center.

Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park, 1000 East Beltline, Grand Rapids, is open year round, hosting a variety of programs on its 132-acres. It's most popular program, presented each spring, is the annual Butterflies Are Blooming exhibit, featuring more than 6,000 tropical butterflies in the Lena Meijer Conservatory. In the summer, the garden hosts a concert series in its amphitheater. Details are listed on the Meijer Gardens Web site, www.meijergardens.org/.

The city's reputation as an art center is further enhanced by the annual ArtPrize competition held each fall in downtown Grand Rapids. Details are at www.artprize.org/. 

Culinary Arts Capital

Watch a brief video of Chef Angus Campbell coaching students before a culinary competition. Try his recipes. Read a Shore Magazine feature story on Grand Rapids Community College's Secchia Institute for Culinary Education.

Learn more about bakeries, breweries and restaurants mentioned in this story:
• The B.O.B., 20 Monroe Avenue NW, 256-2000
• Electric Cheetah, 1015 Wealthy Street SE, 451-4779
• Founders Brewing, 235 Grandville Avenue SW, 776-1195
• Great Harvest Bread Company, 850 Forest Hill Avenue SE, 942-0606
• Heritage Restaurant, 151 Fountain Street NE, 234-3700
• Leo's, 60 Ottawa Avenue NW, 454-6700
• San Chez, A Tapas Bistro, 38 W. Fulton Street, (616) 774-8272
• Schmohz Brewing, 2600 Patterson Avenue SE, 949-0860

Get in on cooking classes and wine tasting events mentioned in this story:
• Art of the Table, 606 Wealthy Street SE, 301-1885
• Bar Divani, 15 Ionia Avenue SW, Ste. 130, 774-9463
• D&W Fresh Markets, various locations
• Institute for Culinary Enthusiasts at Grand Rapids Community College's Secchia Institute for Culinary Education, 151 Fountain Street NE, 234-3837
• Rylee's Ace Hardware, 1234 Michigan Street NE, 451-0724

Plan a trip here during the annual Restaurant Week Grand Rapids or Grand Rapids International Food & Wine Festival, both held in November.

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. Check the fresh produce availability calendar.

Art in Fermented Form

Want to know more about Michigan beer? The Michigan Brewers Guild offersa wealth of information about brew pubs, breweries and micro breweries across the state on its Web site, www.michiganbrewersguild.org. The Guild's site includes a map of Michigan breweries and a schedule of beerfestivals held each year, including the Winter Beer Festival set for Feb. 26, 2011, at Fifth Third Ball Park, home of the West Michigan Whitecaps baseball team. Some 5,000 people attended last year's Winter Beer Festival in the ball park a few miles north of Grand Rapids, sampling 300 different craft beers from 35 breweries. The festival also features music and food. What better way to warm a winter's day? 

Grape Escapes

Michigan's vineyards are noted as much for their picturesque scenery as for the fine flavor of their wines. Most of the 14,600 acres of vineyards are located along Michigan's west coast, many with spectacular views of Lake Michigan. Michigan's official travel Web site, www.michigan.org/Things-to-Do/Attractions/Wineries/Default.aspx, suggests tours of Michigan wineries by auto, bicycle and sea. The sea tour is aboard the Traverse City-based tall ship Manitou, which during the summer offers a wine-tasting cruise while the 114-foot schooner plies the Lake Michigan waves. Or you can tour southwest Michigan's wineries in a 14-passenger limousine from Fruitful Vine Winery Tours, 5601 Saint Joseph Street, Stevensville, MI 49127, phone (269) 978-8777.  

Family Field Trips

Whether you prefer Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, Touring Tunes podcasts, mp3s, or other downloads, you'll find what you need at Grand Rapids Social Lounge. Use it to get inside info on what's fun to see and do in Grand Rapids.

Search the events calendar by category, date, keyword, and location.

Check out TripAdvisor reviews of Grand Rapids. TripAdvisor reviews are also available within our Partner listings through out our website.

Staying Fit

Show up for biweekly PedalGR rides or follow @PedalGR on Twitter.

Kent Trails starts just outside John Ball Zoo. You can bike this easy paved path to Millennium Park, a fine place to fish, swim, or picnic. From Riverside Park, three miles north of downtown Grand Rapids, you can bike a connector trail to Fred Meijer White Pine Trail State Park. Find more bike maps. Ride your mountain bike in GR Bike Park. Watch a brief video about Bikestock Dos.

Rent a kayak from Bill and Paul's Sporthaus  or Powers Outdoors. Consult the Grand River Heritage Water Trail website for river access points.

Get details on where to enjoy outdoor recreation and offbeat opportunities mentioned in the story, such as archery, disc golf, geocaching, drop-in hockey at Griff's Icehouse and Patterson Ice Center, occasional log rolling classes at local YMCAs, and indoor rock climbing at Higher Ground, Inside Moves, or Grand Valley State University's Allendale campus.

Sign up to participate in the next Meijer State Games of Michigan. Read about the 2010 inaugural event.