The stunning news came in February, ending an era that began in 1970 as the city’s first celebration of the arts. Performers, attendees and volunteers reacted overwhelmingly with sadness and disappointment.
Grand Rapids’ long-running Festival of the Arts
Festival organizers announced in early February that after 55 years of “celebrating the arts,” the downtown festival was “ceasing operations effective immediately.”
The tradition which began in 1970 had filled downtown Grand Rapids with thousands of music and dance performances on multiple stages in early June, along with art displays and sales, but experienced a variety of financial challenges as well as dependence on a shrinking army of volunteers over the years…