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Park

Riverside Park

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A hundred acres of riverbank ten minutes north of downtown: free disc golf, a kayak launch and a paved route to the White Pine Trail.

Green trees crowding down to the edge of still river water under a bright skyUnsplash

Photo: UnsplashUnsplash License

Riverside Park is where Grand Rapids actually uses its river. It is a hundred acres of flat ground along the east bank, less than ten minutes north of downtown on Monroe Avenue, and on a Saturday in June it is running a rugby tournament, a 5K, a disc golf round and four family cookouts simultaneously without any of them getting in the way of the others.

That is the honest character of the place. This is a working municipal park, not scenery. The river here is wide, slow and green rather than dramatic, the far bank is trees and industry, and the park's interior is playing fields, picnic shelters, playgrounds and mown grass. What it does, it does at scale and for free.

Three things make it worth a visitor's time. The first is the disc golf: a full eighteen-hole course, free to play, rated hard, running about 2.7 miles through the trees and taking a good two hours. It hosts sanctioned events and it is busy, which tells you what the local standard is like.

The second is the boat launch. This is the practical put-in for kayaks and small craft on this stretch of the Grand, and paddling downstream from here towards the city gives you a view of Grand Rapids that almost no visitor takes.

The third is the trail. Paved paths run through the park and link north along the river corridor towards the Fred Meijer White Pine Trail State Park, the rail-trail that runs roughly ninety miles up to Cadillac. You are not cycling to Cadillac on an afternoon, but you can ride out of the city on tarmac and be in genuinely rural country inside an hour.

One piece of current context. The rapids restoration project is rebuilding the river downstream of here, between Fulton Street and Bridge Street, with construction that began in June 2026 and is expected to run about two years. Riverside Park sits upstream of the works, so it is unaffected day to day, but anyone paddling downstream needs to know what is happening below.

Getting there and parking

Riverside Park runs along the east bank of the Grand River off Monroe Avenue NE, north of downtown. Driving takes under ten minutes from the city centre: north on Monroe Avenue, or off US-131 at Ann Street or Leonard Street and east to the river.

Parking is free and there is a lot of it, spread across several lots serving the fields, the playgrounds and the disc golf course. Park at the end nearest whatever you have come for; the park is long and walking its full length takes twenty minutes.

Cycling in from downtown along the river corridor takes twenty to thirty minutes on mostly paved surface and is the pleasant way to arrive. Bus service runs up Monroe Avenue. Anyone arriving by kayak should note that the launch is on the park's river frontage and is signed from the internal road.

If you are combining the park with Monroe North's factory district and taproom, they are about ten minutes apart by car heading south.

What is actually in the park

A hundred acres laid out long and narrow along the east bank, with Monroe Avenue running up the outside and the river forming the whole western edge.

Working from the river inwards you get: the bank itself with fishing spots and the small-boat launch, then the paved path, then a broad belt of open grass with picnic tables and grills, several of them under covered shelters, then the playing fields and playgrounds, then the disc golf course threading through the wooded sections.

Practical notes for a family afternoon:

  • Playgrounds and open grass are close to the parking areas rather than a hike in.
  • Covered picnic shelters are the reason this park hosts so many family gatherings; the larger ones are bookable through the city and get taken well in advance for summer weekends.
  • Restrooms are seasonal in the way most northern-climate municipal parks are. Do not assume they are open in March.
  • Fields carry organised sport most weekends from spring to autumn: soccer, rugby, baseball and softball.
  • Dogs are common and welcome on lead. There is no fenced off-leash area, which locals will tell you is the park's main missing piece.

Parking is free and plentiful, which after a morning of downtown ramps is the fastest way to feel that you have left the city centre.

The disc golf course

Eighteen holes, free to play, and harder than a free municipal course has any right to be. Players rate it difficult, a round covers roughly 2.7 miles of walking and takes about two hours at a normal pace, and the course has hosted sanctioned PDGA events.

What that means in practice. The wooded holes demand accuracy rather than distance, the ground undulates, and there is water in play near the river side. If you have played three casual rounds on flat open courses, expect to lose a disc here.

Etiquette and timing, because it is busy:

  • Weekday mornings and evenings are the quiet windows. Saturday morning is the worst time to turn up expecting a clean run at the first tee.
  • Let faster groups play through. The course draws a serious local crowd and a slow foursome backs it up quickly.
  • Bring more discs than you think you need, and something bright. The rough swallows anything dark.
  • Mosquitoes near the river in late June and July are not a joke. Repellent goes in the bag with the discs.

If you have never played, the course is free and nobody will stop you, but a first-timer would have a better afternoon on a shorter, more open course elsewhere in the metro area and come here on the second visit.

Getting on the water, and what is happening downstream

The launch here handles kayaks, canoes and small craft. It is a ramp on a slow stretch, not a marina, and there are no rentals in the park itself — hire in the city and bring the boat with you.

The Grand at this point is wide and unhurried, which makes it forgiving for a beginner and slightly dull for anyone looking for whitewater. Paddling downstream towards the city centre is the interesting direction: you pass under bridges, the bank turns from trees to brick, and you arrive at the downtown river frontage from an angle almost no visitor sees. Arrange the take-out and the shuttle before you launch, because the current, while gentle, only goes one way.

The important current caveat. Downstream of the park, between Fulton Street and Bridge Street, the Grand Rapids Whitewater project began construction on its Lower Reach in June 2026 — dam removals and the installation of natural rock structures, expected to take about two years. That stretch is an active construction site. Access, portage points and river conditions through the works are subject to change and closure, so check the project's and the city's current notices before you plan any route that runs into the downtown reach.

Rowing has a long presence on this water and the park has hosted national-level regattas. If you are here early on a summer morning you will see shells out before the wind gets up.

Riding north out of the city

Paved paths run the length of the park and link into the river corridor heading north. Follow them and you reach the Fred Meijer White Pine Trail State Park, the converted rail line that runs roughly ninety miles north to Cadillac.

For a visitor with a hire bike, this is the best cycling day out that starts inside Grand Rapids. You leave from a city park, follow the river, pick up the rail-trail and are in open country within an hour of easy riding. Turn round whenever you like; the trail has no gradient worth the name, being an old railway, and the return is as easy as the outbound.

Walkers get the same thing on a shorter scale. An hour out and back along the river from the park car park is flat, paved and pleasant, and it is one of the few riverside walks in the city not affected by the downtown construction.

Seasonally: spring high water can put parts of the low bank path under water, so check before you set out in late March and April. Summer evenings are the best light. Autumn along the corridor is genuinely good. In winter the paths are not a cleared priority route, so expect snow cover and use it for a walk rather than a ride.

Near Riverside Park

Straight-line distances, so allow more on the road — the island is long and has one main parkway.

Every attraction
  • A row of tall beer glasses on a bar counter in front of brewery tanks

    Dining district

    Free

    Monroe North

    The furniture district that built the city, now lofts, offices and the brewery that moved back in a decade after Founders moved out.

    1–3 hoursFree to walk. You pay for what you drink and eat.2.2 mi away

  • Tall pine trunks and open understorey in a sunlit stretch of sandhill forest

    Trail

    Free

    Provin Trails Park

    Forty-six acres of pine and glacial sand where the city goes to ski when the lake-effect snow arrives, ten minutes from the East Beltline.

    1–2 hoursNo admission charge for the park or the trails.3.8 mi away

  • A blue steel pedestrian bridge crossing a river in front of downtown buildings

    Trail

    Free

    Grand River Riverwalk

    A downtown loop on both banks of a river that is currently being torn up so it can have its rapids back.

    1–1.5 hoursFree. Parking is the only cost and that is a downtown ramp2.9 mi away

  • A sandy beach on calm inland water with trees along the far shore

    Park

    Millennium Park

    Fifteen hundred acres of former gypsum mine and gravel pit, now West Michigan's largest urban park, with a swimming beach in the middle.

    1.5–5 hoursPark free; the beach and splash pad area carries a daily charge6 mi away

Riverside Park: common questions

Is the disc golf at Riverside Park free?

Yes. The eighteen-hole course is free to play, with no booking and no check-in, and it is rated hard by the people who play it regularly. A round covers about 2.7 miles of walking and takes roughly two hours. It has hosted sanctioned events, so the local standard is high and it gets busy on weekend mornings. Weekday mornings and evenings are the quiet windows.

Can you launch a kayak at Riverside Park in Grand Rapids?

Yes. There is a launch on the park's river frontage suited to kayaks, canoes and other small craft, and the Grand here is wide and slow. There are no rentals in the park, so hire in the city and bring the boat. Before paddling downstream, check current notices: the rapids restoration works between Fulton and Bridge streets have been under construction since June 2026 and affect the downtown reach.

Does Riverside Park connect to the White Pine Trail?

Yes, by way of the paved river corridor paths heading north out of the park. The Fred Meijer White Pine Trail State Park is the converted rail line running roughly ninety miles north to Cadillac, and it is the best cycling day out that starts inside Grand Rapids: leave from the park, follow the river, pick up the rail-trail and be in open country within about an hour of easy riding.

Is Riverside Park good for a family afternoon?

It is one of the better options in the city for a low-effort afternoon: free parking, playgrounds close to the lots, open grass, and picnic tables and grills including covered shelters. The larger shelters can be reserved through the city and go early for summer weekends. Restrooms are seasonal, so in early spring or late autumn plan around that rather than assuming.