Rosa Parks Circle is a plaza located in the heart of

Grand Rapids, Michigan Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the second most-populated city in the state after Detroit. Grand Rapids is the ...

. During the warmer months it is a multipurpose facility, acting as a venue for events like concerts or dances put on by the Grand Rapids Original Swing Society (GROSS). In the winter the Circle is converted to an

ice rink An ice rink (or ice skating rink) is a frozen body of water and/or an artificial sheet of ice created using hardened chemicals where people can ice skate or play winter sports. Ice rinks are also used for exhibitions, contests and ice shows. The ...

. Below the ice there are 166

fiber optic An optical fiber, or optical fibre in Commonwealth English, is a flexible, transparent fiber made by drawing glass (silica) or plastic to a diameter slightly thicker than that of a human hair. Optical fibers are used most often as a means t ...

lights designed to represent the sky of Michigan as it appeared at midnight, January 1, 2000. The area was designed by

Maya Lin Maya Ying Lin (born October 5, 1959) is an American designer and sculptor. In 1981, while an undergraduate at Yale University, she achieved national recognition when she won a national design competition for the planned Vietnam Veterans Memoria ...

who is famous for her work on the

Vietnam Veterans Memorial The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is a U.S. national memorial in Washington, D.C., honoring service members of the U.S. armed forces who served in the Vietnam War. The site is dominated by two black granite walls engraved with the names of those ...

. The original name of the circle was Monroe Mall Amphitheater. It is now named in honor of longtime Michigan resident

Rosa Parks Rosa Louise McCauley Parks (February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005) was an American activist in the civil rights movement best known for her pivotal role in the Montgomery bus boycott. The United States Congress has honored her as "th ...

, of whom there is a statue in the park. On August 7, 2012 Rosa Parks Circle was the location of a

Guinness Book ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

world record for the largest number of people swing dancing in unison (756 individuals) organized by the Grand Rapids Original Swing Society.

References

{{Parks in Grand Rapids, Michigan Parks in Grand Rapids, Michigan Memorials to Rosa Parks