City of Grand Rapids | rockpapersizzle

City of Grand Rapids, Michigan

Community & Cultural Events

As the Special Programs Manager for the City of Grand Rapids, one of my primary responsibilities was to conceive, organize and promote large-scale metropolitan events, festivals and celebrations.

Many of these events helped revitalize the city's core and became integral parts of Grand Rapids' life and culture...

Like many older cities in the 1970s, the retail sector of downtown Grand Rapids spiraled downward as shoppers abandoned downtown for the convenience of suburban malls.

By 1985, downtown market share had dropped to a dismal 1.7%, and vacancy rates were staggering – 40% in the central shopping area and 60% overall.

This dire situation was a cause for alarm and action. I recalled the wonder of childhood holidays full of twinkling lights, music, and a massive tree lighting ceremony – traditions that had long since died. I was confident this historic spirit could be revived.

I conceived a large-scale community relations campaign with these objectives:

Unify and motivate downtown's remaining merchants to participate
Create a memorable old style holiday with all the trimmings
Revive a full-scale tree lighting
Offer horse and carriage rides, caroling, craft-making, and cart vendors
Gain sponsorships from large invested downtown corporations to fund activities
Promote the events throughout the Grand Rapids metro area, and
Entice suburban shoppers to come and experience the magic of Christmastime Downtown.

Christmastime Downtown:
This event revitalized downtown retail and won a national Silver Anvil Award – the highest honor in PR.

Event Guide

I recruited companies and individuals to support these efforts and to "ditch the glitz" for a traditional downtown holiday like those in decades past. I secured 24 key sponsors to cover the campaign's $130,000 in hard costs: Amway, Pespi, The GR Press, local radio and TV stations, banks, local manufacturers, and downtown retailers, large and small.

Campaign costs included printing and distributing more than 278,000 Event Guides, and covering extended bus hours and free customer parking. Donors funded nostalgic outdoor decorations and a large Christmas tree, specialty family craft activities, and massive media coverage and advertising.

The results of this campaign were...well, ASTOUNDING! Retailers reported increased sales from 20% up to 225% over the prior year, and downtown market share spiked to over 3%. This jumpstarted a dramatic reversal of a 20-year downward trend and encouraged additional downtown development that continues today.

Downtown Grand Rapids is now thriving, thanks to the spark started with Christmastime Downtown, and the construction of a first-class convention center, a downtown arena, and organizations like Experience Grand Rapids carrying on the promotions and ensuring future success.

Christmastime Downtown and GR's retail turnaround was recognized by the national Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) with their highest honor - the Silver Anvil Award.

That's me in New York, accepting the award from PRSA awards chairman, Mitch Kozikowski.

Click image to visit the Festival website.

Celebration on the Grand

The mission of "Celebration" was to celebrate the spirit of Grand Rapids through an annual music festival capped off by an extraordinary fireworks display each September.

As one of the original founding members and the City's representative on the Celebration on the Grand Committee, Inc., I helped this non-profit organization become self-funded through developing corporate and philanthropic donations and vendor and concession sales.

This annual event's 30-year run concluded in 2015.

Click image to learn more about Celebration on the Grand

Furniture City Exposition

I conceived and mounted this one-time special event to celebrate Grand Rapids' storied reputation as "The Furniture City," and to educate the public about this aspect of their community.

I obtained the full participation of the Grand Rapids Public Museum, Public Library, Art Museum, and a variety of furniture manufacturers, who provided a wide range of furniture and artifacts for display. To engage the general public and boost local businesses, the expo took place all over town, using historic former furniture exposition buildings (most of which had been converted into commercial offices) as exhibit spaces.

A 48-page commemorative booklet (right) detailed the expo and is still used as an educational tool in Grand Rapids classrooms and sold in the GR Public Museum store.

Festival of the Arts

"Festival" takes place in downtown Grand Rapids the first full weekend in June. This long-running community celebration features arts, entertainment, food and fun, and is attended by over 500,000 people annually.

Organization of this three-day event was a massive task involving approximately 20,000 volunteers. For four years, I served as the City representative and key member of the strategy, planning and event management team. Six indoor and outdoor stages feature music, dance, theatre, poetry, films, storytelling over three solid days. All performances, exhibits and activities are free.