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April's Top Ideas
Looking for something truly unique to do while in West Michigan? Try these events, activities and exhibits!
Binder Park Opening Day
April 22
Binder Park Zoo
Battle Creek
269-979-1351
www.binderparkzoo.org
Opening day of Binder Park Zoo! Plan your visit to get nose to nose with the giraffes in the award-winning Wild Africa exhibit.
National Trout Festival
April 23-27
Village of Kalkaska
231-258-9103
www.nationaltroutfestival.com
The village of Kalkaska celebrates the opening of trout season with two parades, a golf outing, craft shows, flea markets and fun for the entire family.
Blossomtime Festival
April 27-May 3
St. Joseph/Benton Harbor
269-926-7397
www.blossomtimefestival.org
"Blossomtime Cruises the World" is this year's theme for this springtime festival. The festival starts on the 27th with the "Blessing of the Blossoms"- other activities include a vintage baseball match, fashion show, youth parade and a Grand Floral Parade.
Geocaching Adventure Fun Package
Holiday Vacation Rentals
Harbor Springs
www.holidayvacationrental.com
Holiday Vacation Rentals offers exclusive unpublished Geocaching adventures to our guests. Geocaching is a fun and entertaining activity that is growing in popularity around the globe. Participating in a cache or "stash" hunt is a fun way to get outdoors . Using a GPS unit, you will find locations by coordinates that have additional clues to find a Holiday Vacation Rental treasure stash. Once found, the cache or stash has a logbook and contains valuable and fun information, coupons and rewards. Successful hunters will also be entered in HVR's drawing to win a free RCI Vacation Certificate.
We have several unique geocache hunts to choose from to begin your geocaching adventure. Geocaching hunts are available to all Holiday Vacation Rental guests. Upon registration you will receive directions to the 1st waypoint to begin your adventure. GPS units are available to rent. Visit www.geocaching.com to learn more about the fun of Geocaching.
Queen's Day Celebration
April 26Nelis' Dutch Village
Holland
616-396-1475
www.dutchvillage.com
In the Netherlands, the Dutch Queen's offical birthday celebration is a riot of festivals and street parties. At Nelis' Dutch Village, they capture some of that excitement to showcase the opening of the theme park for 2008. They decorate the park in orange as an honor to the House of Orange (the Royal Dutch family) and have Dutch games and prizes all day. The biggest benefit to attending this day is the Free 2008 Season Passes for all who attend. Stop by for some orange cake, crowns for the kids, plenty of Dutch fun and get a pass for the whole next season. What a deal!
2008 Reservations Now Available
Lake Express High Speed Ferry
Muskegon
866-914-1010
Internet reservations are available 24 hours a day by visiting www.lake-express.com.
America's foremost high speed ferry will start its fifth season of operations on May 1st, 2008 and we're pleased to announce that rates, schedules and reservations are now available at lake-express.com.
Tickets are now on sale for all 2008 Lake Express travel dates. Some dates and voyages are already in high demand, so be sure to book early to reserve your space on board. Phone reservations are available daily Monday through Friday, 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM.
Celebrate Earth Day in Grand Rapids
Through June 1Grand Rapids Art Museum
www.gramonline.org
What better way to recognize Earth Day than with the exhibition, Art & The Environment: Design Solutions, which showcases the green design features of the new Grand Rapids Art Museum (GRAM), the first newly-built LEED Certified art museum in the world?
Rapture: Recent Paintings by Maria Tomasula
March 20 – May 4, 2008Muskegon Museum of Art
Tomasula’s paintings are noted for their vivid color and theatrical compositions. Flowers, fruit, meat, insects, and other natural objects are portrayed within shallow spaces reminiscent of centuries of Christian devotional imagery. The religious artwork and holy cards of her Latina Catholic upbringing influenced Tomasula. Her still life arrangements, with their visceral references to martyrdom, sainthood, and fetishism, become metaphors for human spirituality.
Hooks, needles, and nails mount the objects like specimens, while rope and string bind and suspend. Water droplets and glass beads sparkle amidst the pierced flesh and flowers. Tomasula’s still lifes are meticulously rendered and infused with intense color. Their attraction, made more provocative by oblique theatrical lighting, is countered, by a degree of repulsion, even violence, associated with peeling, binding, and piercing. The resulting artworks explore the human concerns of religion, life and death, and wonder at the natural world.
Maria Tomasula: Paintings features approximately 20 new works and is organized by the Snite Museum of Art, University of Notre Dame, and Zolla Lieberman Galleries of Chicago.
Blessing of the Bikes
April 27
Ottawa County Fairground
800-506-1299
www.blessingofthebikes.com
A gathering to start the riding season with a blessing for a safe year, promote a sense of community and fellowship among riders and to support local charities.
Healing Ayurveda and Yoga Retreat
April 18-20
Boyne Mountain
Boyne Falls
800.GO.BOYNE
www.BOYNE.com
Join teacher Rolinda LeMay for a weekend retreat on healing. Learn the basic principles of this 5,000 year old Indian healing tradition that will allow you to identify your body's doshic type and begin to define what body care and nutrition will support you in being the best you can be. Ayurveda provides a basis of understanding the triad of body/mind/spirit connection and how to foster balance and optimum health.
This $295 retreat includes a welcome reception Friday evening, Ayurveda workshops Saturday, a lunch to balance your doshas, instructor-led yoga session, a guided meditation, an Ayurvedic Dinner, a souvenir book,and your choice of one 50-minute spa treatment. Upgrade your package to include two nights lodging at the luxurious Mountain Grand Lodge and Spa at Boyne Mountain for $470 per person. Prices are per person and based on double occupancy.
The Piano Lesson
April 17-26Civic Theatre
Grand Rapids
www.grct.org
August Wilson won his second Pulitzer Prize for this haunting drama. It is 1936 and Boy Willie arrives in Pittsburgh from the South in a battered truck loaded with watermelons to sell. He has an opportunity to buy some land down home, but he has to come up with the money quickly. He wants to sell an old piano that has been in his family for generations, but he shares ownership with his sister and it sits in her living room.
