This fall the HBA invites local business and organization representatives and volunteers to attend two great networking events. Come relax, meet your neighbors and learn a little bit about Heartside! All employees and volunteers are invited! Please RSVP to make sure we order enough food! 

1. Meet n’ Greet Lunch, October 27th at 11:30am (lunch provided)

Location: Grand Rapids Community Foundation 185 Oakes Street SW
Meet new people and learn more about the Grand Rapids Community Foundation while enjoying a free lunch with the HBA.
RSVP here
 

1. Meet n’ Greet Happy Hour, December 8th at 4pm (appetizers provided drinks not included)

Location: Bar Divani 15 Ionia Avenue Southwest
Get to know some of your neighbors and enjoy some holiday cheer during the HBA’s Winter Meet n’ Greet! Be sure to bring your business cards! 
RSVP here

Want to keep in touch in between meetings and meet n greets? Sign up for the HBA newsletter! 

 
Philadelphia has the cheesesteak.
Chicago has the Chicago dog.
But what does Grand Rapids have?
This is a signature sandwich competition for the people of a great city; a city that should be celebrated with flavors as unique and brilliant as the people who inhabit it. What exactly is it that makes Grand Rapids so unique? How can you translate the culture of Grand Rapids into a sandwich? This is your challenge. Do you accept?
 
What
The Grandwich competition is a battle in good fun between the unique restaurants, delis, cafes, bakeries, etc. located downtown and in our neighborhood business districts, to create a sandwich that wins exclusive rights to being the official sandwich of Grand Rapids, or “Grandwich”. Once the competition starts, the businesses will put their signature sandwiches on their menus and the public will go to each establishment and vote on their favorites. The top 10 sandwiches will go on to a judging round where a panel of judges will determine which sandwich will be the official Grandwich. The judging event will be open to the public with a donation to Kids Food Basket as admission.
 
Who
With this invitation, you are being asked to create a sandwich that has never been created before. You have until July 8 to conceptualize, create, test, play and perfect your vision of what you think the
Grandwich should be. Get creative on the term sandwich. It doesn’t only have to be a savory, lunch time food. It can be a breakfast sandwich, a dessert sandwich. You decide.
 
When
Restaurant registration ends June 30. Sandwich entries must be submitted by July 8.
Public voting starts July 15. Public voting ends on July 31 and the top 10 sandwiches will be announced August 1. The businesses with the top 10 sandwiches must keep their sandwiches on the menu until August 6.
The judging portion of the competition will take place on August 6 at Rosa Parks Circle. The winner will be announced at this event open to the public.
 
Criteria
The public and the judges will vote on the following criteria:
Use of Local Ingredients. Does the sandwich have ingredients native to the area? Does it feature local ingredients grown by local farms/made by local companies?
Uniqueness. Is this something new, fresh, never been attempted before? Would it compete with other big city sandwiches?
Taste. Obviously, does it taste good? Do the flavors jump out at you? Do they complement each other? Are there different textures and flavors?
Appearance. Does it look exciting? Is it begging to be picked up and devoured?
Representation. Does this sandwich represent the tastes and interests of the people of Grand Rapids?
 
Requirements
Businesses located within downtown Grand Rapids, or the twenty surrounding neighborhood business districts in the city are eligible to participate.
Each business must submit their registration forms before June 30. You must submit a description, picture and the price of the sandwich by submitting the sandwich submittal form by July 8.
Each business is required to keep their signature sandwiches on their menus until August 1 (if in the top 10, the sandwiches are required to stay on until August 6.)
It is up to the business to price their sandwiches. However, we encourage a reasonable price point as the Grandwich should be affordable to most everyone.
Each business must agree to promote the competition by placing a Grandwich poster in a conspicuous place in their place of business. Businesses should promote the Grandwich competition to their customers through their established customer communications including email.
Each business agrees to display a Kids Food Basket donation bucket for donations to be made throughout the competition.
The underlying mission behind the competition is to support local businesses and food industry and help boost the local economy. We are therefore not asking for an entrance fee from the businesses.
The only potential cost to being in the competition comes to those businesses that make the top 10. At the judging event on August 6, each of the ten businesses will set up a table and provide samples of their signature sandwiches to the public (for roughly 250 people). You will also need to provide five sandwiches to the judges for judging. Each business must prepare the samples and judging sandwiches at their own facility and are responsible for transporting the sandwiches to the competition.
To register your restaurant and sandwich, visit our website at www.downtowngr.org/grandwich.
Good luck! May the best sandwich win!
 
 

Spring is here! This month It's All Happening features a look into two exciting downtown developments including sneak peek into 38 Commerce opening this spring and an update about the Grand Action announcement. Don't forget to scroll down to see our blast from the past photo and be sure to mark your calendar for our ~Annual Meeting May, 27th 2010~ As always, we round out the newsletter with a few hot Heartside events and if you check out the "HBA news" on the left there are links to neighborhood news stories from the last month!
Check out our March newsletter here! 

Closing Name: LOUIS
Notification Date: 02/09/2011
Closure Type: Partial Closure
Street Closed: LOUIS
Where: FROM MONROE TO OTTAWA
Starting Date: 02/10/2011 07:00AM
Ending Date: 02/10/2011 05:00PM
Originating dept: Traffic Safety - 456-3066
 
Contact: ANDRE DIAZ, DTE ENERGY, 616-690-1474
Description: EASTBOUND TRAFFIC ON LOUIS WILL BE DETOURED TO FACILITATE URGENT GAS MAIN REPAIR. WESTBOUND TRAFFIC WILL BE UNAFFECTED.
http://www.ci.grand-rapids.mi.us/1352