What the hell is he doing now?

Grand Rapids really is a boring town.

That is what people used to say. That is what people used to say before local big business leaders (philanthropists with the money to do something good) and community leaders saw the need to re-vitalize the great city on the great Grand River. They knew there could be great events here, great adventurers for her folk and out-of-towners. Hell, you even had that crazy and imaginative Rob Bliss doing attention-getting activities like downtown zombie walks, giant water slides going down Lyon Street and a city-wide viral video rendition of Don McClane’s AMERICAN PIE. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPjjZCO67WI)

It is all that kind of forward thinking that brings excitement to a place and puts a great town like Grand Rapids, Michigan, back on the map. (Late 70’s/early 80’s were not so good to downtown GR and other than a map dot, I think we slid off the grid for a while.)

I am going to blow up Grand Rapids.

Okay, not really blow up and not really in a real sense, but in a fictional sense. There are a lot of tales untold of Grand Rapids, both past, present and future.

I mean, really, who knew during a hot and hazy summer bar night in 1987 that Cthulhu roamed the streets of Grand Rapids disguised as a meager bar patron? That a group of superheroes lived in town and headquartered in a sub-sub basement of the Van Andel Museum? That a young headstrong woman was abducted during the Flood of 1904 and held captive by a strange cult on the city's deeply wooded west side? That in a dark future, the city proper will a barricaded fortress of light against mutated man and beast? Or a massive warzone where massive tanks rumbled through the streets? Or... Or... Or...

There are many stories strange, mundane, fictional and true...or slightly altered truth...of our beloved town of Grand Rapids and her surroundings.

What my intention here is to offer you some of those tales, penned by myself or guest Grand Rapidian folks and/or bloggers. Mainly for fun and entertainment, and to show visitor or GR citizen alike, there are exciting things happening in Grand Rapids, Michigan, both past, present and future.

This is where it all begins.

Stay tuned.