GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — With ArtPrize 2025 starting Thursday, artists are getting their work set up all over Grand Rapids and restaurants and businesses are staffing up to handle the boom in visitors.
Close to 800,000 people visited the art competition in 2024, generating about $71 million in economic activity, according to data comes from researchers at Grand Valley State University.
“The primary focus is the amount of people that we bring to downtown Grand Rapids,” GVSU economics Professor Christian Glupkar said.
Everything you need to know about ArtPrize 2025
According to GVSU’s research, about 475,000 of those 800,000 total visitors cited the competition as their primary reason for coming to the city. Those out-of-town primary visitors are lucrative for restaurants, hotels and businesses…