Name: Gorundhog Day Marathon
Start: 2027-02-06
End: 2027-02-06

The Grand Rapids Downtown Market is a delicious destination that brings together small businesses, food entrepreneurship, award-winning venue spaces, and public events to create a vibrant downtown experience, all year-round. Open seven days a week, the LEED-certified building is home to 20 local, artisan food merchants and restaurants. A public space for dining, entertaining, and family fun, located in the heart of downtown GR and surrounded by the city’s best breweries, attractions, and hotels. Home to West Michigan’s best wine, cheese, seafood, BBQ, and artisan dining options, the Market offers indoor and outdoor seating, terraces overlooking the city skyline, a rooftop greenhouse event space, 5,000 square feet of commercial kitchen for food start-ups, and a dedicated Market parking lot. The Market is proud to be celebrating its 10th year this fall—marking a decadent decade!

Grand Rapids Downtown Market

Nonla Burger is a modern diner experience with an "old school" twist! Located on the Westside of Downtown Grand Rapids. Nonla Burger offers quality food and service, with affordable pricing. Come join the fun you won't regret it.

Nonla Burger

Meat & whiskey lovers, rejoice! Butcher’s Union offers a meat-heavy menu of globally inspired fare and more than 100 whiskey selections. It was ranked one of Yelp’s Top 100 Midwest eateries in 2023. Located in the bustling Bridge Street entertainment district, this modern gastropub provides a cozy, intimate respite for dinner, and also serves lunch on Saturdays. Fish, poultry and pasta dishes complement the meat offerings, and you can enjoy a wide variety of cocktails, wine and draft beers in addition to whiskey.

Butcher's Union

West Side pizza joint offers fresh-made pizzas, breadsticks, pasta, sandwiches and salads, for pickup or delivery.

Fratelli's Italian Kitchen

Bistro Bella Vita's specialty is fresh Italian and French cuisine, prepared from scratch, and served in a big-city, casual atmosphere featuring West Michigan's largest martini bar. Visit Bistro Bella Vita and enjoy the "Beautiful Life."

Bistro Bella Vita

We’ve created CoreLife Eatery to bring clean, healthy and great tasting foods to everyone every day. We feature hearty bowls that are complete meals in themselves featuring greens, grains and bone broths. All of our ingredients are free of GMO’s, trans fats, artificial colors, sweeteners and other artificial additives. Our chicken and steak are sustainably raised, and never ever given antibiotics or hormones. We buy local when and where we can, in fact, check out our “local” wall to see what’s in season around us. We also believe that hiring local team members to prepare our food, and paying them well, is much better than having it come “ready to eat” from a manufacturing plant across the country.

CoreLife Eatery

Brand-name burger restaurant offers more than 250,000 ways to customize a burger plus hot dogs, fresh-made hand-cut fries. Three area locations.

Five Guys Burgers and Fries- Grandville

Brand-name sandwich shop offers made-to-order sandwiches plus salads, soups and breakfast sandwiches. Three area locations.

Potbelly Sandwich Shop

Strategically placed at the gateway to Grand Rapids’ historic Westside, The Knickerbocker is a taste of many world traditions that have been rediscovered and presented with a fresh perspective. Enjoy a full drink menu including craft beer, artisan spirits, handcrafted cocktails, wine and cider. The Knickerbocker presents a rustic, seasonal menu showcasing local and regional agriculture, old world techniques with a fresh perspective; including nose to tail butchery, heirloom produce and scratch cooking over fire.

New Holland - The Knickerbocker

New Holland - The Knickerbocker Facility Tour

We are an economic generator through sports tourism for Greater Grand Rapids and Kent County in the West Michigan area.

We own and operate an award winning baseball/softball complex; the Meijer Sports Complex [www.MeijerSportsComplex.com](https://www.MeijerSportsComplex.com) featuring eight fields, including a championship field that seats 1,000.

Our signature event, the Meijer State Games of Michigan (Olympic-style sporting event), draws 10,000 athletes through 60+ sports in its Winter and Summer Games.  We work with many of our local sports clubs and organizations to host various regional and national tournaments.

Why Grand Rapids? We have:
•	12,000 + hotel rooms (2,500 downtown)
•	234,000 square foot downtown convention center (fits 40 volleyball courts)
•	12,000 seat Van Andel Arena
•	5 facilities that feature 4+ courts and multiple grass or turf fields
•	Grant program for new events
•	and more!

West Michigan Sports Commission

We’ve all heard of Punxsutawney Phil, the little furry guy in Pennsylvania who comes out, sees his shadow, and declares six more weeks of winter. Then there’s Augustus T. Groundhog, better known as Grand Rapids Gus. He’s Phil’s much more interesting cousin. Unlike Phil, who it seems can only see shadows, Gus has much better eyesight and can look at a calendar on February 2 and know that spring doesn’t start for six weeks. Gus suggested that instead of lamenting over six more weeks of winter, we should EMBRACE the cold and snow and do something fun. And so, the Groundhog Day Marathon was born.

The modified course for 2024 was pretty popular. We've certified the new course, so we'll be starting behind the pavilion this year again. Looking forward to seeing you in 2027!

**EARLY START**--If you're planning to be running more than about 6 hours, please start at the 7:00 am early start. The normal start is at 8:00 am

**The Basics**  
It’s a winter running event, outside Grand Rapids Michigan. YES! THERE WILL PROBABLY BE LOTS OF SNOW ON THE COURSE.

The Friday and Saturday beginning of February. In 2027, it's February 5-6.

It’s more fun than you should have with your clothes on. (And we DEFINITELY suggest you keep your clothes on!)

Gorundhog Day Marathon

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