Notes from the Road: Grand Rapids

Witness a convergence of art, food and presidential history

It isn’t every day you get to see the artworks of hundreds of local artists while walking around a city. My visit to Grand Rapids was one of such times. The city’s two-week ArtPrize competition was on display all around the city’s downtown area—canvases, sculptures, multimedia pieces—vying for ArtPrize 2024’s top spot.

Many of Grand Rapids’ meetings hotels, venues, museums, parks, coffee shops and more take part in the festivities, showcasing art all throughout their spaces. Outside of ArtPrize though, the city itself—and all the places to meet around it—is an art piece unto itself.

Meet and Sleep

I spent my nights in one of JW Marriott Grand Rapids’ 331 guest rooms. On the 23-story property’s ground floor are several F&B options that cater to whatever mode attendees are in. They can sit down for a bite at the property’s French bistro, Marguax, or grab an on-the-go breakfast at its on-site Starbucks. Meeting profs have 15,000 sq. ft. of meeting space to pick from.

JW Marriott Grand Rapids is one of the city’s primary meetings hotels, connected via skyway to Amway Grand Rapids, which is then connected via skyway to DeVos Place, Grand Rapids’ convention center.

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Amway Grand’s 656 guest rooms are split across two towers: 371 in the historical Pantlind Wing and 285 in the modernized Glass Tower. The latter underwent a renovation in 2021, turning its formerly knee-level windows into floor-to-ceiling windows, both in its guest rooms and MDRD (read as “Madrid”), the property’s Spanish restaurant—if you like octopus, you couldn’t go wrong having it here. Amway Grand is home to several ballrooms in its more than 47,000 sq. ft. of space that have quite the character, like Imperial Ballroom, which can accommodate up to 300.

Just outside of DeVos Place, on the Gillet Bridge, is an opportunity for attendees to mix and mingle right over the Grand River. Indoors, DeVos Place offers a 162,000-square-foot exhibit hall (divisible by three), the 40,000-square-foot Steelcase Ballroom, 26 meeting rooms and the 2,543-seat DeVos Performance Hall.

Eat

The selection of F&B inside and outside of Grand Rapids’ hotels and venues ranges far and wide.

Grand Rapids Downtown Market displays a number of them under one roof—18, in fact—like Cafe de Miro, which serves Mediterranean food; Juju Bird, which serves different types of chicken meals; and Rak Thai.

Beyond the regular F&B expected at events, the meeting professionals at Amway Grand Plaza have taken it a step further with The Chef’s Studio. During this experience, groups of up to 12 will have the opportunity to sit and eat in the kitchen to talk to the property’s executive chef and watch all cooking go down. There’s also a TV in the meeting room, so attendees can watch a live feed of the cooking action.

Experience

Celeste Salon & Spa is one of the latest additions to Amway Grand Plaza, added to the property’s wellness floor—then already fitted with a fitness center and pickleball courts—in August 2023. Celeste offers a number of massage treatments—like the Swedish massage and hot stone massage, several types of facials and more.

Around the meetings, Grand Rapids offers plenty of extracurriculars to see and do. A place that might have your attendees talking is Frederick Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park, also home to eye-catching indoor and outdoor space. Several sculptures can have events built around them, like The American Horse, created by animal sculptor Nina Akamu. The 24-foot horse is part of a pair, the other being in Milan. Indoors, Frederick Meijer Gardens’ largest space can hold up to 1,200 people.

Beyond the spaces, attendees can tour the park on foot or via narrated tram ride, where they’ll get a chance to feast their eyes on the park’s thought-provoking and visually stimulating pieces; indoors, visitors will be able to catch the park’s rotating sculpture and horticultural exhibitions. Frederick Meijer Gardens also hosts public events of all kinds—like concerts at the garden’s amphitheater, seasonal events like Autumn Nights and Christmas & Holiday Traditions, and special events like a Japanese teahouse experience.

When you leave the hotel, you’ll find a museum a block away in every direction. In the downtown area, there’s Grand Rapids African American Museum & Archives, Grand Rapids Art Museum, Grand Rapids Public Music Museum and Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum.