We are proud of our 🏠︎ home, in the ancestral, traditional, and contemporary lands of the Anishinaabeg Peoples. Specifically, the Grand Rapids area in West Michigan, originally called Noaquageshik at baw-wa-ting ("the rapids" in Anishinaabemowin ).
We would like visitors and new residents to be happy here. We would also like to support local vendors, merchants and crafters, who provide local, 🏞 environmentally-responsible, 👥︎ socially-responsible, sustainable, Fair Trade, green products and services. To make all of this easier, we maintain this list of activities and vendors we have used, do use, or been recommended to us. We do not endorse nor recommend these nor any other particular vendors. If you know of any community resources you recommend be publicized on or removed from this page, please email us with the button at bottom of this page.
Visiting Grand Rapids, Michigan? Moving here? 🏠︎
Or been here a while, and … Looking for things to do? Buy cheap from or donate tosustainable local businesses. Help.
If you are only here for a day or two, please see:
Enjoy! Or keep reading for more ideas …
For full effect, view the videos ↑ above by selecting a video image, then icons YouTube (if present), ⏯︎⊠ Skip Ads (if present), ㏄ captions (if you wish), ⛶ fullscreen, and ▶︎ Play. Ra-Ra info on living and working in Grand Rapids:👪︎ family, 🏛 education, 👥︎ community, food, brews, culture and travel Grand Rapids is not a dying city History of Grand Rapids (formerly Noaquageshik at baw-wa-ting "the rapids").
Restoring (rewilding) the 💦︎ rapids in the ♒︎ Grand River. Yes, we are doing that!
🗺 Maps of Kent County for drivers and truck operators (incl. street directory), and 🚲︎ bicyclists > point to or top navigation 🚶︎ East Trails.
Neighborhoods
🏛 Museums 👥︎📅︎ GR Community Calendar 🚼︎📅︎ GRKids > CALENDAR ArtPrizeWed Sept 19/Sun Oct 07¿even-numbered years?
☀︎🚶︎🏠︎ Outdoors 🚶︎ Outings ☀︎🚶︎🏠︎ Outdoor volunteering Activists
Music and Performances Pubs
🏛 Education Lecture Series 📱︎💻︎ User Groups
Jobs Financial and other Help Sports Local News ✈︎ Aviation
▶︎ Lots of health benefits to going outdoors[?] in natural sunlight, direct or indirect.
To get these benefits, you might visit, see or join:
There are a large number of organizations needing volunteers for ☀︎🚶︎🏠︎ outdoor work (good exercise!), who are 👥︎ partners of and listed at West Michigan Conservation Network > About > Our Partners.
I volunteer for several of them!
(mostly 📱︎💻︎ < /> computer programmer-type)
Many Michiganders need help these days:
To learn more (including demographic information and excellent 🗺 maps) about West Michigan's neighborhoods, cities, townships and counties, please see 👥︎ Community Research & Data Tools > Community Profiles > your neighborhood, city, township or county. Can waste use lots of time with the Interactive Map!
My neighborhood, Ada Township ▶︎ video Space Worth Preserving.
Closest 🏫︎ school districts are (in order):
Michigan Licensed 🐦︎ 🐢︎ Wildlife Rehabilitators
We like to (as much as practical) do business with local businesses who use Sustainable Business Practices:The Triple-Bottom Line (3BL) Ethic :
Food: 👥︎ Community-SupportedAgriculture (CSA) — buy a share! Food: Farms Food: Farmers Markets Food: Markets
Clothing 📚︎ Paper, plastics, metal, appliances,building materials and 👟︎ shoes
📱︎💻︎ Computers, electronics,📺︎ TVs and appliances 💡︎ Lighting and Energy Services Miscellaneous
Need all three:
To get your company certified as a Ⓑ B Corporation involves more criteria. But companies that do that are more likely to survive difficult economies, such as the 2008 Great Recession.
Reuse and ♻︎ Recycling are two of the R's of "Rethink/​Refuse/​Reject, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle/​Repurpose/​Recover":
🏠︎ 🏠︎ home page ☑ VOTE informed, in every election!
--Eric Piehl comments on web westMichigan.html v1.0.8.6 2023-05-01, copyright © 2017-2023 by Eric Piehl.