Who We Are
About East Grand Rapids Community
A neighbor-run guide to everything that makes life in EGR so good.
We believe every community deserves a single, friendly place to find out what's happening, where to eat, what the neighbors are saying, and how to get involved. This site is that place for East Grand Rapids.
Why This Site Exists
East Grand Rapids is a genuinely special place to live — the kind of community where neighbors know each other's names, schools are a point of pride, and a summer evening on Reeds Lake feels like a reward for choosing well. But keeping up with everything going on here has always required checking half a dozen sources: the city website, the schools calendar, a few Facebook groups, the local news, and whatever showed up on Nextdoor that week.
We built this site because we wanted something better. We're not affiliated with the City of East Grand Rapids government, we're not a commercial media outlet, and we're not trying to sell you anything. We're just neighbors — people who live here, raise families here, and care about this community — who thought a well-organized, automatically updated community hub would make daily life a little easier for everyone.
This site fills the gap between official city information (go to eastgrmi.gov for that) and the lived experience of actually being here — finding parking for the Art Fair, knowing which coffee shop opened on Wealthy, catching the Reeds Lake 5K registration before it sells out.
What We Cover
What You'll Find Here
Everything in one place, kept current automatically.
Events Calendar
From the annual EGR Art Fair and Reeds Lake 5K to school concerts, city commission meetings, and neighborhood block parties — our events calendar pulls from Eventbrite, Ticketmaster, and community submissions and keeps itself updated every four hours. No more hunting across multiple sites.
Browse Events →Local Businesses
Our business directory covers the restaurants, boutiques, service providers, and professionals that make shopping local in EGR worth it. Each listing includes hours, contact info, and a bit of context so you know what you're walking into before you arrive.
Find Businesses →Community News
We aggregate local and regional news stories about East Grand Rapids from MLive, Fox 17, WOOD TV8, and other trusted sources. Stories are refreshed regularly so you always have a current picture of what's happening in and around the community — without the noise of a full news site.
Read the News →Neighborhoods Guide
Thinking about where to buy? Curious about life on the Reeds Lake side versus the Gaslight Village corridor? Our neighborhood guides give you an honest, human picture of each pocket of EGR — character, amenities, things to love, things to know.
Explore Neighborhoods →Parks & Recreation
East Grand Rapids packs a lot of outdoor life into its 3.4 square miles. We profile every park, trail, beach, and green space — what's there, what the amenities are, what seasons it's best in, and how to get there. Reeds Lake is just the beginning.
See the Parks →Living Here
Practical info for new and longtime residents: school enrollment, utility contacts, trash and recycling schedules, permit processes, local service providers, and the kind of insider knowledge that takes years to accumulate — pulled into one easy-to-browse section.
Living Here →How We Stay Current
Stale information is worse than no information at all, so we built the site around automated syncing from day one. Here's how it works:
- Events are pulled from Eventbrite and Ticketmaster every four hours. Community-submitted events are reviewed manually and added within a day or two of submission.
- Community news is aggregated via RSS feeds from MLive, Fox 17, WOOD TV8, and other regional sources. The feed is refreshed several times a day so breaking local stories appear quickly.
- Business listings are curated and updated by hand. If you notice a change — new hours, a closure, a new location — please let us know.
- Parks and neighborhood guides are updated by the site team as things change. We review them at least twice a year.
We're always looking for ways to improve coverage. If there's a source we should be pulling from, or something we're missing, we genuinely want to hear about it.
Join In
Get Involved
This site is as good as its community makes it. Here's how you can help.
Submit an Event
Organizing something in East Grand Rapids? Whether it's a neighborhood block party, a school fundraiser, a business opening, or a community meeting — submit it and we'll add it to the calendar.
Submit an EventContact Us
Spotted a mistake? Know a business we missed? Have a story tip? Want to suggest a feature? We're volunteers, but we read every message and respond to as many as we can.
Get in TouchA note on affiliation: This site is built and maintained by East Grand Rapids community members in their spare time. We are not affiliated with, funded by, or endorsed by the City of East Grand Rapids, the East Grand Rapids Public Schools, or any other governmental or corporate body. For official city services and information, visit eastgrmi.gov.