Right ahead, you’ll spot an open plaza with a wide circular basin, scattered silver chairs, graceful paths curving through green trees, and glassy buildings reflecting the city’s energy all around it.
Welcome to Rosa Parks Circle, where the city’s heart doesn’t just beat-it dances! Designed by Maya Lin, who created the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, this graceful space is anything but ordinary. In the summer, picture jazz bands grooving by the fountains, people twirling from the Original Swing Society, and crowds gathered just to soak up Grand Rapids’ sunshine. But the fun doesn’t freeze up in winter-Rosa Parks Circle transforms into a sparkling ice rink, where skaters glide over 166 twinkling fiber optic lights, which aren’t just pretty lights-they’re a map of the Michigan night sky as it looked at the turn of the millennium, midnight, January 1, 2000. Named in honor of the civil rights hero Rosa Parks, there’s even a statue here, keeping watch over all this joy and history. And on one August night in 2012, over 750 dancers turned this quiet spot into a world record for the largest swing dance-who knew the midwest could boogie so hard? So whether summer breeze or winter chill, Rosa Parks Circle is always in motion!
