Ah-Nab-Awen Park Is Closed. Here's What's Actually Happening to the Grand River Behind the Fences

"Peace of mind. I mean, it's tranquility," Grand Rapids native Justin Spencer said about Ah-Nab-Awen Park, describing what the six-and-a-half-acre green space along the Grand River has meant to him for years. Then, in late May, he walked down to find fences, missing grass, and heavy equipment where the lawn used to be. He wasn't alone in being caught off guard. If you've noticed the same thing near the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum this summer and wondered what happened to one of downtown's oldest gathering spots, here's the full picture, including the part most coverage has left out.

What's Actually Closed, and Why

Ah-Nab-Awen means "resting place" in Anishinaabemowin, a name proposed by the Elders of the Three Fires Council when the park was built as a bicentennial project. It sits on the site of a former Indigenous village, holds small earthen mounds commemorating that history, and has hosted decades of July 4th fireworks and Celebration on the Grand.

Most of that park is now the staging ground for construction equipment, not because the park itself is being redeveloped, but because it's the most practical access point for a much bigger job happening in the river in front of it. Crews are using the space to stage materials and build causeways that let excavators work directly in the Grand River. According to the city's official project updates, the park will remain closed for the duration of this construction phase, not just for a season. One local walking-tour guide notes a narrow exception: the southern strip along Pearl Street, where the mounds and the Spirit of Solidarity Labor Monument stand, is expected to stay open even while the rest of the park is fenced.

Two Different River Projects, Easy to Confuse

Part of the confusion downtown right now comes from the fact that there are two separate river projects running at the same time, a few blocks apart, and it's easy to mix them up.

Canal Park's overhaul, designed in partnership with the Grand River Bands of Ottawa Indians, is a city parks project funded through the Monroe North Tax Increment Financing Authority, a Right Place MEDC grant, and the Parks Capital Fund. The rapids restoration is a much older and larger undertaking led by the nonprofit Grand Rapids Whitewater, funded in part by an $11 million federal grant from the USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service approved in March 2026. Different budgets, different agencies, different finish lines. Only one of them touches the park you've seen torn up.

The Name Doesn't Match What's Coming Back

Here's the part that hasn't gotten much attention: the project that gave Grand Rapids Whitewater its name isn't building whitewater anymore.

The original proposal, championed by founders Chip Richards and Chris Muller nearly two decades ago, envisioned constructed wave-forming features that would turn the downtown river into a genuine whitewater recreation destination, something kayakers could paddle year-round in the middle of the city. The EPA raised concerns that manufactured whitewater structures could speed up stream velocity, disrupt sediment flow, and destabilize the channel. In 2023, the city withdrew its original permit application and redesigned the project around habitat restoration instead. The wave-forming structures were dropped. What's being built now is a gradual slope of natural rock and boulders meant to mimic a healthier river channel, not a whitewater park.

"It's exciting that it is finally happening, because we still get people asking, is it ever going to happen?" said Matt Chapman, executive director of Grand Rapids Whitewater, of the shift from two decades of planning to actual equipment in the river. City and project leaders are still framing the result as a win for river recreation, with improved conditions for paddling, tubing, and fishing once the dams are gone. But if you've been picturing a downtown whitewater course, the honest expectation to set is a calmer, more natural river with better fish passage and safer banks, not the dramatic rapids feature that inspired the project's name in the first place.

The Timeline You're Actually Living Through

Construction on the Lower Reach, the stretch from about 300 feet upstream of the Bridge Street bridge down to the Fulton Street bridge, began in-river work on July 1, 2026, following a groundbreaking ceremony on the Gillett Bridge on June 1. The project is built around two construction seasons, with the second expected to begin in summer 2027 to remove the remaining low-head dams. City officials have said the full Lower Reach job should wrap by the end of 2027, weather and river conditions permitting. Gillett Bridge itself stays open the entire time, so downtown foot traffic across the river isn't cut off, even with the park closed on one side.

A second phase, the Upper Reach, would eventually address the Sixth Street Dam near Fish Ladder Park, which currently also serves as a barrier against invasive sea lamprey. That piece is much further behind. The Great Lakes Fishery Commission and Army Corps of Engineers restarted an environmental impact study this spring, held a public scoping meeting on April 22, 2026, and closed the public comment period on May 22. A draft EIS isn't expected until July 2027, and no construction timeline exists yet for that phase.

Where to Actually Get on the Water This Year

If you're used to walking, running, or paddling near Ah-Nab-Awen Park, here's what's realistic between now and 2027, and what's already changed for the better.

• Riverside Park, about five minutes north of downtown, has a free, barrier-free kayak and canoe launch into a lagoon connecting to the Grand River. It's unaffected by the Lower Reach construction and remains the easiest downtown-adjacent put-in right now.
• Canal Park's new accessible kayak launch and the Owashtanong Playscape are expected to open later this year. Some city materials point to a fall opening, while earlier promotional copy suggested summer, so if you check back and it isn't ready yet, that gap in timing is likely why.
• The Grand Rapids Public Museum's riverfront expansion, part of a $70 million project that started in 2023, already opened its first phase with a Riverfront Opening Celebration in June 2026. The museum's Cook Carousel Pavilion, home to its 1928 Spillman Carousel, was detached from the main building specifically to allow accessible trail connections along the water, so there's new river access there right now, not just a promise.

None of this replaces Ah-Nab-Awen Park while it's fenced off, and there's no getting around that a familiar patch of downtown green space is off limits for a couple of years. But the river work happening behind those fences is close to two decades in the making, funded through federal, state, local, and private dollars that took years to line up, and it's finally underway. Just don't expect a whitewater park when it's done. Expect a river that's healthier and safer to be near, with a name that no longer quite matches what it delivers.

Whenever you're ready to talk about buying or selling near the river corridor, in Grand Rapids, or anywhere else in West Michigan, the team at Bialik Real Estate knows this market from the ground up. Start Your Property Search today.