Fish Ladder Park — Attraction in Grand Rapids

✅ THIS PLACE IS NOT AS BEAUTIFUL AS IT USED TO BE AND I AM A NATIVE OF GRAND RAPIDS MICHIGAN!!!

I visited with my significant other on Wednesday afternoon May 7th, 2025 from out of town, and I was beyond disappointed with the upkeep of the Fish Ladder.

It appears as if the city of Grand Rapids let this place turn into an abandoned dump!!! Sure, I understand that the foliage is not in full bloom in the beginning of May, but the condition of the groundwork looked as if it hadn't been kept up in at least 3 years. Furthermore, the cement steps that people are supposed to sit on looked as if it belonged in a landmine.

What disappointed me the most, was the trail and sidewalks along the fish ladder park. Not only WASN'T it clean, but it looked incredibly dated.

After doing a little investigation, I discovered that homeless people and people from the inner city started congregating at the fish ladder and turned it into a hangout for degenerates...perhaps this is why it no longer reflects the pride of downtown Grand Rapids!!!

Whatever the case is, I hope that the city cleans it up and restores it back to its former glory!!! Every time I would come back to visit Grand Rapids, the Fish Ladder park is a place that I looked forward to visiting...NOT ANYMORE!!!

If you visit at night, PLEASE MAKE SURE THAT YOU HAVE LEGAL PROTECTION ON YOU. The Fish Ladder is not a place where you should come unarmed due to the unsavory characters that congregate in and...

What's not to like about fish ladder park?

If you don't see salmon jumping up the icebreaker, you can always watch the amorphous blob of carp writhing around eachother eating surface foam.

It's a great place to start a walk along the river, the city parking lot always has spaces. It's a pretty view and can take you into the business district in maybe 15 minutes of walking.

The pavement is good for bikes or skateboards. I don't fish, but I know plenty of people who love wading in the river during the fall, and as far as I can tell, there is a good unspoken understanding that when someone hooks a fish, everyone else reels in and gives them space to net it.

There are usually a handful of people around at any given time, from fishermen to pedestrians to people just watching the river.

It's just a cool place worth...

Cool place to visit. We really liked it but as with everywhere we visited in GR the overwhelming amount of homelessness made it hard to enjoy the place itself. It was an emotional roller coaster with a constant reminder that much of the glitter of the city is a facade as there are so many unfortunate souls living amongst many who seem to have so much and live almost entirely oblivious ignoring the sheer magnitude of the homeless problem that runs rampant in their city. I have a real love / hate opinion of GR on the whole. A seemingly cool city with a very uncool issue that should not be ignored. Imo. PS. Parking is an issue Literally EVERYWHERE in GR and there are virtually no restrooms anywhere. Plan...