Do-Dah Parade
Downtown Kalamazoo
June 6, 11 a.m., FREE
Get silly at the Do-Dah Parade in downtown Kalamazoo on June 6. First held in Kalamazoo in 1984 as a spin-off of Pasadena’s Do-Dah Parade, this is no ordinary sit-on-your-hands, wave a tiny flag parade. Go see everyday people dress up and get goofy, absurd, and downright hilarious trying to make the funniest parody. The 2015 parade puts an emphasis on crazy costumes and creative floats that poke fun at something or somebody. The Do-Dah Parade looks forward to years of silliness now that it’s found a home with the Kalamazoo Experiential Learning Center, which provides college students with events-based internship opportunities “The spirit of Do-Dah is fun, silly and unique,” says Deborah Droppers, founder and president of the KELC. “It’s all about making good, light-hearted fun of ourselves.” The parade runs Lovell Street to Park Street, to Michigan Avenue, back to Portage Street and then stopping back at Lovell Street.
Holland Street Performers Series
Thursdays, June 11–Aug. 27
6:30–8:30 p.m., FREE
Downtown Holland ups the urban ante with its Holland Street Performers Series. Kara de Alvare, marketing coordinator for the city, expects over 100 different artists and groups to perform on a rotating basis in approximately 35 different locations. You can expect to find musicians old and young alike, daring aerial acrobats, jaunty jugglers, surly caricature artists, bendy break dancers, clever magicians, silly stilt-walkers, not too-creepy mimes, elegant belly dancers, sad sack sideshow acts and many more. Crowd pleasers include the Bangarang Circus, juggling clown Matt Emerick and Douglas Grew, aka Johnny Vaudeville. Located on the charming retail rows of 8th Street, College Avenue and River Avenue, the series provides an entertaining evening of amazing artistry that you might never have the chance to see again. Just don’t forget to tip the performers.
Running Rivers Paddle Board and Kayak Rentals
120 E Center St., Douglas
running-rivers.info
$15 an hour per single person kayak
Send dad down the river, literally, on Father’s Day. Running Rivers Paddle Board and Kayak Rentals in Douglas lets dads kayak for free on June 21 when accompanied by at least one child. Offering trips from one-to-eight hours on the Kalamazoo River, their most popular trip starts at the charming town of New Richmond at its restored historic swing bridge. You will then spend about three hours leisurely drifting downstream, returning to Wade’s Bayou in Douglas. Running Rivers uses recreational kayaks with stable, large cockpits. Kayakers often see bald eagles, foxes, deer and a variety of water birds on the river. You can even bring your dog on your river adventure.
Hodenpyl Woods Hiking Trail
West of Reeds Lake Boulevard, behind Remington Park
East Grand Rapids
Pressed for time? The Hodenpyl Woods Trail offers nearly one mile of nature-hiking glory smack dab in the heart of East Grand Rapids. The wooded wetlands were donated to the Grand Rapids Boulevard and Garden Society by Anton Hodenpyl in 1912. The park features a meandering 0.9-mile rustic-plant identification trail laid out by a local Boy Scout Troop, with several boardwalk crossings and a somewhat floating bridge that argues for sturdy hiking boots. Bring your binoculars because during the springtime the woods provide exceptional opportunities to spot handsome examples of our feathered friends like the lesser scoup, yellow warbler or the wily red-breasted merganser. Among the trees you will see weeping willows, box elders and the “I’m all about the” basswood and black walnut. Flower fiends will look for the trout lily, mandrake, yellow flag iris and baneberry.
