Features

The Scottville Clown Band has been entertaining West Michigan audiences for over 120 years.

Animals take center stage at John Ball Zoo—otters frolicking in their new home, snow leopards and sloth, pygmy hippos and red pandas—

I went into my conversation with Randall Heidema of Holland expecting to meet a musician. But within the first five minutes, it became clear: Heidema isn’t just a musician—he’s a memory keeper, a spark plug, and a one-man joy machine with a guitar in his right hand and a songbook of 500 classics in the other.

In West Michigan, surrounded by orchards, dairy farms, and fields that smell like fresh soil in the spring, it can be strangely difficult to buy an an ear of corn or an apple grown down the road.

If you happened to spot Mr. Monopoly out and about recently—posing on the Blue Bridge, tipping his top hat outside Van Andel Arena, or strolling through city parks—you weren’t imagining things.

Christmas Eve eve coffee with my daughter began with a stop at Muskegon’s new — and only — cat cafe, The Whisker Room, 926 2nd St. Muskegon.

The Frequently Asked Questions section of the St. Cecilia Music Center website opens with a direct question: Are we a religious organization? The answer is unequivocal. No religious affiliation.

In the first part of our brunch spotlight, we dished on the charm and finesse of Littlebird — a downtown staple known for elevating the classics.

For John Naum, going to work with his dad as a child meant testing the candy made in the Sweetland Candies shop. He’s now got grandchildren doing the same thing.

A little magic has descended upon Saugatuck’s Cook Park, 40 Water Street, Saugatuck.

I once saw a bumper sticker in Los Angeles that read: “Where the hell is Pentwater?”

Thrifting is the new cool these days as shoppers young, mature, and in-between flock to area thrift stores.

Abraham Lincoln. Billy the Kid. Civil War soldiers, dour and focused. A decorated General Custer. Nineteenth century families, seated and serious. 

STEM Greenhouse and Giving Tree Books are leading the charge in expanding access to quality education and literacy in West Michigan.

When the Michigan Film Incentives vanished back in 2015, did Michigan filmmaking disappear along with it? No way!

Now, we’re turning our attention to a local chain with a big following: Anna’s House.

You may have explored the lakeshore’s stellar large parks, traversing shaded trails in Hoffmaster State Park, Saugatuck Dunes State Park and the like. Here, we’ll introduce you to six of their diminutive cousins.

A native Grand Rapidian who graduated from Creston High School announced recently the release of her first book.

Julie Rathsack stands as a unique figure, intertwining local history with the supernatural.

In Grand Rapids, Italian dining tells a story that stretches from Old World family recipes to game‑day pies and polished coastal plates.