International Women’s Day Celebration March

Friday, March 8th, 2024
12:00pm
Calder Plaza, Downtown Grand Rapids, MI

This event is sponsored by wonderful partners!

On Friday, March 8th, the world will celebrate International Women’s Day (IWD). It is a global holiday to recognize the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women and a day that marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity.

To commemorate this global holiday, SowHope will be hosting a community-wide event in Grand Rapids on March 8th, 2024. Beginning at 12:00pm, there will be a brief presentation honoring Grand Rapids Mayor Rosalynn Bliss and A Glimpse of Africa and SowHope Board Member Fridah Kanini. This will be followed by a 1-mile celebration march through Grand Rapids, beginning and ending at Calder Plaza. Local female musical artists Grace Theisen and Carolyn Koebel will be featured after the march concludes!

This is an opportunity for everyone to celebrate their own cultural heritage and women everywhere. Historically, women around the world celebrate IWD by walking through the streets, dancing and holding flags of their native countries. We want to emulate this beautiful and joyful practice and bring it to downtown Grand Rapids! Hot Cocoa will be available to participants at the end of the event.

Corporate and individual sponsorships are available. For more information, please contact Aaron Hoxworth, aaron@sowhope.org | 616-433-1575.

Parking

Downtown Grand Rapids has many parking options, but sometimes they can be hard to find! For cost-effective parking options close to the event, please use either the Government Center Ramp, located at 300 Monroe Ave NW ($2/half hour) or the Pearl Ionia Ramp, located at 28 Pearl St NW ($2/half hour). Metered street parking is limited, but available on a first-come, first-serve basis and with a max duration of 2 hours ($1.75/hour). If possible, we encourage using the DASH bus system. Rides are free and leave every 15 minutes. You can find the exact schedule at grandrapidsmi.gov/dash. Parking in a DASH lot is $3-$4 for a full day. The best stop would be to get off at “Government Center” and take the walkway up to Calder Plaza!

Walking Route for the March!