Day 8: Grand Rapids, MI
Nau Mai
Yesterday we drove across the state of Michigan and played in its second most populous city, Grand Rapids.
I awoke to find that Pearl Stormcloud was still thundering west along the concrete surface of Interstate 96, drawing ever closer to our destination, the great city astride Michigan’s Grand River. My breakfast was constructed while we were in motion and the utmost care was taken while I used the sharp knife to chop my fruit. Into a wide bowl I added sliced banana, kiwifruit, blueberries, raspberries, and Greek yoghurt, and then topped it with a big sprinkle of granola.
At midday we arrived outside the venue on Ottawa Ave, just a couple of streets back from east bank of the river, and about a mile north of the downtown. We headed in to check out the venue, braving the heat and the crushing humidity of this June afternoon for only a few seconds before being welcomed by the power of American industrial air conditioning. The Big Room, as it called itself, was vast. Tall and wide and cavernous, with an acoustic to match. This was a recreational facility built by the owners of the adjacent Berkley & Gay Furniture Company Factory complex for their employees to use apparently in whatever capacity they liked. Boxing, farmers markets, roller skating, indoor baseball, movie screenings, and other community-centred events were the norm.
Looking at the stage from the back of the venue, a temporary platform constructed in front of the proscenium. Up on the wall you can see the original stained glass windows.
The stained glass windows on the back wall were reclaimed from a local church. They aren’t installed into the wall but have been backlit with LED lights that can be patched into the lighting show.
Outside a restrained but handsome brick facade downplayed the scale of this structure.
I went out for coffee and detoured to see the river not even knowing that I would get to see a century old historical structure! This magnificent truss bridge was begging to get photographed, its deep teal paint scheme crying out for recognition. The Sixth Street Bridge is a four-span wrought iron bridge that crosses the 163m width of the Grand River, and has carried both vehicle and pedestrian traffic since 1886. I was very taken by the decorative elements of this classic Pratt Truss design, in particular the pedestrian safety balustrade, the round finials on the top of the truss at each end of the bridge, and of course the striking deep teal paint scheme.
If you don’t keep an eye on your equipment for every second of the day you get ruthlessly pranked.
While waiting for dinner we watched the weather front approaching from the east, deciding to head inside to finish our meal once all the chairs starting blowing away.