Rosa Parks Circle
Rosa Parks Circle is a plaza located on a 3.5-acre space in the heart of Grand Rapids, Michigan. It is a hub for a variety of activities downtown from concerts or dances in the warmer months and ice skating in the winter. The center is converted to an ice rink in the winter. Tiny fiber-optic lights under the ice rink’s surface depict the configuration of the stars over Grand Rapids on January 1, 2000. Annual events are held on the rink such as the City tree lighting ceremony, broomball leagues, and human “hungry hungry hippos” on ice. Admission of $3 adults and $1 youth include skate rental.
Rosa Parks Circle is a special place for people to meet-up. It is the most-visited park in Grand Rapids. During the summer, local musicians, food trucks, oversized yard games, and other programs for the lunchtime crowd bring a steady influx of business to the downtown area. In 2016, 721,000 attendees enjoyed 220 days of events and programming. There are 50,000 skaters estimated to use the ice rink every winter.
The area is named in honor of Rosa Parks, a longtime Michigan resident and civil rights activist. It was designed by Maya Lin who is famous for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. The park includes grass mounds and offers spectacular views of the city.
The downtown area of Grand Rapids suffered commercially in the 1970s, and the city planners built a pedestrian mall to attract shoppers. When that failed to bring people downtown, the city turned the northernmost section of the pedestrian mall into Rosa Parks Circle in 1995. That was a successful redesign and the plaza has been credited in helping draw restaurants, galleries, shops, and the Grand Rapids Art Museum. Rosa Parks Circle is one of the most active areas for year-round community events.