Greater Lansing offers alphabet of options
C is for Capitol
Lansing is Michigan's capital city, and visitors and residents alike are welcome to tour our state's beautiful capitol building, which was restored to its original grandeur between 1989 and 1992 and rededicated in November 1992.
D is for Diversity
The Greater Lansing region's residents are richly diverse, and we celebrate our diversity regularly with events like Lansing's Diversity Day. Because MSU's international student body is among the largest in the United States, local communities like East Lansing work hard to welcome new residents from elsewhere in the world to our region.
E is for Energy
Alternative forms of energy and sustainability are keys to the future. At MSU, researchers in the university's Energy & Automotive Research Laboratories are working diligently to address some of the world's most urgent problems. And MSU's Office of Campus Sustainability is working to reduce the university's environmental footprint by helping the school to increase efficiency, decrease energy usage, reduce waste, encourage alternate forms of transportation, and more.
F is for FRIB
We were thrilled when Michigan State University successfully attracted the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, a $550 million nuclear research facility funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. This facility is expected to bring $1 billion in economic activity—and 400 jobs—to Michigan in the next 10 years. It will also keep MSU's nuclear research program,which is currently ranked second only to MIT's, among the nation's leading programs.
H is for Harvest
Our region boasts some of the Midwest's most productive farm land, and we enjoy the harvests. There are lots of farmers markets and U-pick farms here—some seasonal, some open year-round. (On a different note, there's also a great music production, sound design, corporate music branding, and music licensing firm here called Harvest Music and Sound Design.)
Local farm markets include the century-old Lansing City Market, which is open Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays year-round. Other local farm markets and U-pick farms include:
K is for Kayaking
There are lots of places to canoe and kayak in the Greater Lansing region, including the beautiful Maple River State Game Area (mid-Michigan's largest contiguous wetland) in St. Johns. There's even a short section of engineered whitewater on the Red Cedar River in Williamston.
L is for Ledges
Like rock-climbing? The Ledges in Grand Ledge's Oak Park offer a terrific spot to climb. The mile-long stretch of 60-foot sandstone ledges is the only place in Michigan's Lower Peninsula with climbable rock faces—and routes that range from 5.easy to 5.hard. Check it out at grandledgeclimbing.com.
N is for Nightlife
You've worked hard all week, and now you're ready for some fun. You can find it here in the Greater Lansing region, in places like downtown East Lansing and downtown Lansing—restaurants, nightclubs, theatre, and more.
O is for Old Town
Lansing's Old Town is a historic district in north Lansing that's home to a number of our region's most popular festivals, including Festival of the Sun and Festival of the Moon, as well as lots of art galleries, boutiques, and creative businesses like Absolute Gallery, Grace, Elderly Instruments, Scavenger Hunt ECO, October Moon, Spin Street Bicycles, and more. Old Town also houses a number of terrific bars and restaurants.
P is for Performance
Are you a fan of live music? You're in luck here in the Greater Lansing region, where festivals like the Common Ground Music Festival, the East Lansing Summer Solstice Jazz Festival, Great Lakes Folk Festival, Lansing JazzFest, Old Town BluesFest, and more attract a rich array of both well-known and yet-undiscovered performers.
Prefer live theatre? We offer regular performances by both amateur and professional actors through All-of-us Express Children's Theatre, Lansing Civic Players, the LCC Performing Arts Theatre program, MSU's Department of Theatre, Peppermint Creek Theatre Company, Riverwalk Theatre, Starlight Dinner Theatre, Stormfield Theatre, Wharton Center for Performing Arts at Michigan State University, and Williamston Theatre.
Want to watch dance? Check out performances by Children's Ballet Theatre of Michigan, Greater Lansing Ballet Company, or Happendance.
What about film? The East Lansing Film Festival and Lansing Fall Film Exhibition offer opportunities to see the quality foreign and independent films that didn't make it to local mass-market theaters.
Q is for Quaint
You'll find quaint in many iterations in the Greater Lansing region, most notably through the shops of the Mason Antiques District. (There are lots of other antique shops in our region as well.)
R is for Rivers
Michigan's longest river, the Grand River, runs through the Greater Lansing region while making its way to Lake Michigan. The Looking Glass, Maple, and Red Cedar Rivers also cross our region before flowing into the Grand.
These rivers offer residents and visitors alike an array of entertainment and recreation options, including boating, fishing, and riverboat cruises on the Michigan Princess.
All of these activities are more enjoyable thanks to our Adopt a River program. Now hosted by Lansing's Impression 5 Science Center, Adopt a River was started more than a decade ago by the Lansing Board of Water & Light to help keep the Grand and Red Cedar Rivers and their banks and surrounding areas clean.
W is for Wonder
There's wonder like mid-Michigan's starry skies, which you can learn more about by visiting MSU's Abrams Planetarium, and there's wonder like Stevie Wonder, who was trained in classical piano at the Michigan School for the Blind when that school was still located in Lansing. Either way, it's pretty wonderful.
Y is for Youth
While youth may well be wasted on the young, as George Bernard Shaw once famously noted, Greater Lansing region's youth have no excuse for wasting time when there's so much for them to do here. Whether it's seeing (or participating) in a production through All-of-us Express Children's Theatre; burning off steam at the Boys & Girls Club of Lansing, the Michigan 4-H Children's Garden at MSU, the YMCA of Lansing, or through the Capital Area Youth Sports Association; learning something new (and having fun doing it) through Junior Achievement of Mid-Michigan, the Lansing Symphony Orchestra, or the Lansing Youth Gardening Coalition; or participating in programs through Boy Scouts of America, Cristo Rey Community Center, Lansing Area Youth for Christ, and others, there's lots to keep children, tweens, and teens busy in mid-Michigan.
Z is for Zoo
Lansing's Potter Park Zoo, that is. Visitors can view more than 500 animals that range from A (Aldabra Tortoise and Arctic Fox) to Y (Yak). (Sorry, there's no Zebra at Potter Park.) The zoo is open seven days a week; hours vary by season.