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Onekama Days
Each August, the “Two Lake Town” of Onekama near Manistee hosts it’s annual Onekama Days celebration with fun for the whole family.
Photo by ArtPrize
Each year, Downtown Grand Rapids plays host to perhaps the world’s largest art competition- ArtPrize. It generally takes place from mid-September to October with many West Michigan artists submitting pieces which are displayed throughout Grand Rapids, Michigan, at public parks, museums, galleries, restaurants, etc.
In 2023, ArtPrize offered $400,000 in prizes to participating artists. Prize money was broken into two categories: $200,000 for the public vote grand prize, and $200,000 for the juried prizes. ArtPrize 2.0 also says it’s offering $200,000 in juried prizes.
From it’s origins, it’s a city-wide art competition within a 3-square mile district in downtown Grand Rapids. It was open to any artist age 18 and up. During the first 11 days, visitors could view the entries and take note of the ones they wanted to vote for.
This was not to be a run-of-the-mill art competition. Some very creative minds back in 2009 invented ArtPrize, where any artist in the world could compete with no limitations. The venue would not be contained to one place- if a property owner in Grand Rapids wanted their storefront to become a “canvas,” it became one. And the public would vote to decide who would win the cash prizes.
So on September 23rd, 2009- 1,262 artists from 14 countries and 41 states entered their pieces for ArtPrize, and Grand Rapids wasn’t quite prepared for the 200,000 people that arrived for the two-week event. Over the past years, ArtPrize has featured thousands of artists artists, over $1.5 million prizes and brought over one million visitors to Grand Rapids.
In 2018, ArtPrize organizers announced that the event would occur every other year with a smaller, scaled-back event known as Project 1 held during the off years.
In 2022, the original organizers decided to turn all creative, technological, and communications platforms over to a new partnership between Downtown Grand Rapids Inc., the city of Grand Rapids, and Kendall College of Art and Design of Ferris State University.
Each August, the “Two Lake Town” of Onekama near Manistee hosts it’s annual Onekama Days celebration with fun for the whole family.
Enjoy a variety of shoreline cruises with various themes on the S.S. Badger Carferry in both Ludington and Manitowoc.
West Michigan is the location for many Car Shows during the summer. Various awards and plaques are presented at these car shows.
Beautiful color emerges come Fall. Take it all in with an afternoon drive, or stroll, through the many forests of West Michigan.
The spring/fall runs of steelhead and salmon, the resident brown trout and “brookies” make the PM River extremely popular for fishing.
West Michigan is home to wineries galore! Enjoy a wine tasting tour and sample award winning wines.
The Manistee Riverwalk follows the Manistee River from Jones Street, under the US-31 bridge, behind downtown, and ends at First Street beach.
The Michigan Audubon Society Lake Bluff Center overlooks Lake Michigan near Manistee and features wildlife and a bird sanctuary.
Michigan has a public ORV trail system for four different riding opportunities–motorcycles, ATVs, ORVs, and scramble areas.