Food Truck Food Drive at The Community Church in Ada ~ June 22, 2023

 

Sponsored by The Community Church in Ada, the event raised funds and goods for two local non-profit organizations, Flat River Outreach Ministry and Grand Rapids Neighbors For Neighbors.

Four food trucks participated in the event.

Gravel Bottom Brewery served up the beer.

Ellen entertained the kids with her balloon animals.

Lots of volunteers manned the check-in, payment, and information stations.

The fantastic Chasing the Knicks group shared their musical talents the entire evening.

The Bounce House was enjoyed by the youngsters and ended up being easier to set up than to take down 😊

Food, music, and good company for good causes made for a very happy evening. Thank you to volunteers, donors, attendees, and especially to Cara, the event planner, pictured here with Mara, pastor of The Community Church.

Thanks again to all of you generous donors!

(Above photo courtesy of Flat River Outreach Ministries)

(Goods donated to Neighbors for Neighbors)

Hope to see you next year!

2019 Food Truck Blogpost

Grand River Limestone in Grand Rapids MI

Hundreds of tons of limestone were removed from the Grand River in the late 1800s/early 1900s and were used to construct buildings. But only three of those river limestone buildings still stand in Grand Rapids today (contrary to the sign in the public museum).

(From the Grand Rapids Public Museum)

This is the Eliphalet Turner House at 731 Front Ave NW. It was built in 1846. 

The second limestone structure can be found at 222 Fulton Street SE. Zillow reports it was built in 1900 but it's probably older than that.

It has a large red brick addition in the rear.

The third river limestone building that still exists in Grand Rapids is the beautiful St. Mark's Episcopal Church at 134 Division Avenue N. It was completed in 1849 and the stone towers were added in 1851.

It's lovely that these three historic structures still stand in our city.

We also still have two cobblestone streets and one cobblestone alley in Grand Rapids.

Click here to see them.

The Cobblestone Streets of Grand Rapids ~ 6/16/23

Built in the mid to late 1800s, these two cobblestone roads are the last two in Grand Rapids. Some repairs/restorations have taken place over the years, but they are still cobblestone 😊

The first street we found was North Avenue.

Not surprisingly, the ride was steep and bumpy 😉

Trowbridge was a short distance away, and was also steep and bumpy.

Only North Avenue has the historic street sign.

Kudos to Grand Rapids for keeping these very cool, historic streets!

After some information from a facebook history fan (thanks, Jim Winslow), we found the last remaining cobblestone alley: first roadway North of Fulton off Lafayette, running East to Prospect Avenue. It was a much rougher and longer drive than the two roads.

Driving out onto Prospect, the drive is brick paved and very steep.

The other alley we were looking for from Hastings to Trowbridge no longer exists.

 The following are three short driving videos from yesterday and today, to be replaced by better quality footage somewhere down the road. Enjoy! 😁

North Avenue

Trowbridge

Alley