Community Calendar

May 1 - May 31 / Join us for a month-long celebration of new vegan dishes all over Kalamazoo!

Back by popular demand for the fourth year in a row, businesses across Kalamazoo will showcase exciting special vegan menu items for an entire month, giving everyone the opportunity to explore creative plant-based dishes crafted by talented local chefs.

How It Works:

1- Visit participating restaurants across Kalamazoo.
2- Try their exclusive vegan offerings.
3- Share your experience: Rate and review the dishes you try, comment, post photos of your favorite meals, and tag us at @KalamazooVeganChefChallenge.

This event is open to everyone, not just vegans! It’s about bringing our community together to celebrate incredible food and support our area's chefs.

Get Involved: Looking for ways to connect? Volunteer with us! We’re seeking passionate individuals to help with outreach, event promotion, and community building throughout the month. It's a great way to meet like-minded people and make a difference! Volunteer using this link: TinyURL.com/VOLVCC.

Join us in making Kalamazoo an even more inclusive, vibrant, and compassionate community. For details on participating businesses, menus, partners, and more, visit our website at veganchefchallenge.org/Kalamazoo.

The Kalamazoo Vegan Chef Challenge is hosted by Vegan Outreach and in collaboration with Vegan Kalamazoo.

"Wild Kratts Live 2.0 is a theatrical stage show based on the hit animated television series Wild Kratts. Martin and Chris Kratt, stars of the Emmy-nominated Wild Kratts, step out live on stage to engage the audience in a classic Wild Kratts story! Martin and Chris are sure to keep you entertained as they activate some fan favorite Creature Power Suits and go “Off to the Creature Rescue!” With the help of the Wild Kratts team—and their audience members—the Kratt Brothers confront a comic villain and help bring the creatures of the animal world to safety once again! Experience, live-on-stage, the astounding creature fundamentals, and the infectious excitement and inspiring quest of the Kratt Brothers that make the hit television series Wild Kratts so popular with kids and their families.

Since 2014, Wild Kratts Live 2.0 has performed over 225 shows for hundreds of thousands of fans in over 135 cities across North America. It was created for the stage by the imaginative minds of Martin and Chris Kratt from Zoboomafoo, Kratt’s Creatures, and Be the Creature."

May 1 - May 31 / Join us for a month-long celebration of new vegan dishes all over Kalamazoo!

Back by popular demand for the fourth year in a row, businesses across Kalamazoo will showcase exciting special vegan menu items for an entire month, giving everyone the opportunity to explore creative plant-based dishes crafted by talented local chefs.

How It Works:

1- Visit participating restaurants across Kalamazoo.
2- Try their exclusive vegan offerings.
3- Share your experience: Rate and review the dishes you try, comment, post photos of your favorite meals, and tag us at @KalamazooVeganChefChallenge.

This event is open to everyone, not just vegans! It’s about bringing our community together to celebrate incredible food and support our area's chefs.

Get Involved: Looking for ways to connect? Volunteer with us! We’re seeking passionate individuals to help with outreach, event promotion, and community building throughout the month. It's a great way to meet like-minded people and make a difference! Volunteer using this link: TinyURL.com/VOLVCC.

Join us in making Kalamazoo an even more inclusive, vibrant, and compassionate community. For details on participating businesses, menus, partners, and more, visit our website at veganchefchallenge.org/Kalamazoo.

The Kalamazoo Vegan Chef Challenge is hosted by Vegan Outreach and in collaboration with Vegan Kalamazoo.

The work of West Michigan’s talented artistic community is on view during the annual West Michigan Area Show. This crowd-pleasing annual juried exhibition was carefully curated from more than 300 submitted entries, ranging from paintings, prints, and photos to mosaics, ceramics, jewelry, sculpture, and mixed-media works.

Learn more about the West Michigan Area Show and the application process on the exhibition page.

May 1 - May 31 / Join us for a month-long celebration of new vegan dishes all over Kalamazoo!

Back by popular demand for the fourth year in a row, businesses across Kalamazoo will showcase exciting special vegan menu items for an entire month, giving everyone the opportunity to explore creative plant-based dishes crafted by talented local chefs.

How It Works:

1- Visit participating restaurants across Kalamazoo.
2- Try their exclusive vegan offerings.
3- Share your experience: Rate and review the dishes you try, comment, post photos of your favorite meals, and tag us at @KalamazooVeganChefChallenge.

This event is open to everyone, not just vegans! It’s about bringing our community together to celebrate incredible food and support our area's chefs.

Get Involved: Looking for ways to connect? Volunteer with us! We’re seeking passionate individuals to help with outreach, event promotion, and community building throughout the month. It's a great way to meet like-minded people and make a difference! Volunteer using this link: TinyURL.com/VOLVCC.

Join us in making Kalamazoo an even more inclusive, vibrant, and compassionate community. For details on participating businesses, menus, partners, and more, visit our website at veganchefchallenge.org/Kalamazoo.

The Kalamazoo Vegan Chef Challenge is hosted by Vegan Outreach and in collaboration with Vegan Kalamazoo.

Kalamazoo River Guardians
Are you looking for an opportunity to better understand your local watershed? Become a Kalamazoo River Guardian! Working with a team of experts, participants will help sample parts of the Kalamazoo River watershed and its local tributaries for macroinvertebrates (water bugs). Samples will be brought back to the lab to be identified under microscopes as a group. The data collected contributes to a statewide database used for valuable research and monitoring of water quality. No prior experience is required.

Fee: Free event, $5 optional pizza lunch
Audience: All Ages (children must have an adult in attendance)
Meet: Merrill Park, 5845 Comstock Ave., Kalamazoo, MI 49048

This event is recommended for those older than 8. If you have a younger person who you would like to bring, please connect with us and we can discuss ways in which they can participate safely and while having a fun experience. A chaperone is required to accompany participants younger than 14. Participants must have transportation to the sampling site and Heronwood Field Station (lab and lunch location).

Wetland Wonders
Saturday, May 30, Noon-3 pm
Audience: All Ages
Meet: Cooper’s Glen Auditorium

Swamps, bogs, marshes, fens… we love these marvels of our local ecology, but how well do you know your neighborhood wetlands? Learn about the wetlands here at KNC and take part in some exciting citizen science to sample and identify some of our wetland inhabitants.

Fee: Included in regular KNC admission

May 1 - May 31 / Join us for a month-long celebration of new vegan dishes all over Kalamazoo!

Back by popular demand for the fourth year in a row, businesses across Kalamazoo will showcase exciting special vegan menu items for an entire month, giving everyone the opportunity to explore creative plant-based dishes crafted by talented local chefs.

How It Works:

1- Visit participating restaurants across Kalamazoo.
2- Try their exclusive vegan offerings.
3- Share your experience: Rate and review the dishes you try, comment, post photos of your favorite meals, and tag us at @KalamazooVeganChefChallenge.

This event is open to everyone, not just vegans! It’s about bringing our community together to celebrate incredible food and support our area's chefs.

Get Involved: Looking for ways to connect? Volunteer with us! We’re seeking passionate individuals to help with outreach, event promotion, and community building throughout the month. It's a great way to meet like-minded people and make a difference! Volunteer using this link: TinyURL.com/VOLVCC.

Join us in making Kalamazoo an even more inclusive, vibrant, and compassionate community. For details on participating businesses, menus, partners, and more, visit our website at veganchefchallenge.org/Kalamazoo.

The Kalamazoo Vegan Chef Challenge is hosted by Vegan Outreach and in collaboration with Vegan Kalamazoo.

"Spend an unforgettable night with Steve Burns, the original host of Blue's Clues, in an intimate, moderated conversation that’s equal parts heartfelt, humorous, and nostalgic.

Beloved by a generation for his gentle curiosity and genuine warmth, Steve steps back into the spotlight to reflect on the unexpected cultural impact of Blue’s Clues, the moment he said goodbye, and the journey that followed—from children’s television icon to musician, actor, and viral internet sensation. With candid stories, behind-the-scenes insights, and thoughtful reflections on growing up (for him and for us), this evening offers fans a rare opportunity to reconnect with a familiar friend.

Whether you grew up watching him search for clues or discovered him through his moving messages years later, this special event invites you to celebrate connection, curiosity, and the enduring power of kindness.

Bring your questions—and maybe your handy dandy notebook—for a night you won’t forget.

Guiding the evening is Stefani Bishop, celebrated Kalamazoo radio personality, bringing her signature warmth and insight to the stage."

Kick off summer with the 75th Annual Kalamazoo Institute of Arts Fair in historic Bronson Park in beautiful downtown Kalamazoo! This two-day, juried fine arts fair welcomes 15,000+ visitors to the park to celebrate and invest in the participating artists from across Michigan and the country as they showcase their creative talents and sell their work.

Celebrating this landmark 75th year in 2026, the KIA Arts Fair will feature up to 145 fine artists in 12 distinct mediums presenting their jaw dropping, one of a kind creations of usable and decorative art to feature, wear and use. You are sure to find something truly unique shopping the wide selection of fine artists. Throughout Friday and Saturday you can partake in shopping, live entertainment, kids’ activities, artist demonstrations from the Kirk Newman Art School, fine food truck fair, and FREE admission to KIA galleries.

Friday, June 5, 3–8pm
Saturday, June 6, 9am–5pm