Kalamazoo’s name is so distinctive strangers around the world have been known to break into song at hearing the name. With such a recognizable moniker you’d think Kalamazoo wouldn’t need nicknames, but through the years changing names have reflected the city’s refusal to stand still. The Zoo, Celery City and the Mall City are a few. The innovative thinking that brought downtown K’zoo the nation’s first pedestrian mall in 1959 continues to work today. Innovators have developed thriving life sciences, biotechnology and pharmaceutical firms. They build on the expertise of Kalamazoo’s universities. Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo College, Kalamazoo Valley Community College and Davenport College all are centers of research, development and technology. They surround a downtown vibrating with condos, apartments and homegrown, top-notch restaurants. The universities are woven into the city’s social fabric and contribute to a cultural scene that Kalamazooans love to boast about. The Kalamazoo Symphony, Kalamazoo Institute of Art and a vibrant local theater community are a few of the offerings. Locals also love their festivals that fill the air with music and the scents of ethnic foods wafting over the Arcadia Festival grounds and the Kalamazoo River. Outdoor activities from biking on the Kal-Haven trail to disc golf and standard golf on a nationally-acclaimed course in Milham Park are the start of the city’s leisure side. Sports fans have competitive college teams, minor league baseball and hockey to follow. And it all comes with a Promise. All high school graduates who live in Kalamazoo qualify for a scholarship that pays 100 percent of their tuition at any public university or community college.
Still going strong after two decades, the Kalamazoo Promise has grown and pivoted to adjust to current trends and needs. "We started to realize that every student's story is unique."
On a bitterly cold night in January, volunteers spread out across Kalamazoo County to see how many unhoused people they could find. It's part of what the federal government calls the Point in Time count, and it gives communities information as they prepare services and policies to serve this population.
"They're movement pieces that push the boundaries of what we know about movement and the ideas of the genre. I don't think of contemporary dance as necessarily a category, but more of a way to think of how movement is explored, and explored in a contemporary way."
The Cinderella Project, sponsored by Memories Bridal and Evening Wear, offers high school students the chance to feel like a princess, replete with a fairy godmother to assist in their choice of a gown. This year's prom dress giveaway takes place March 28.
Several national housing-related organizations have applauded Kalamazoo’s preapproved housing program. The National Association of Home Builders highlighted the city’s approach to filling lots in a report about preapproved housing. Here's a look at how the program is going.
What does it mean to live a well-lived life? Ask your mom, your grandmother, and other important elder people in your life. That's what filmmaker Sky Bergman did. Come hear what she found in the final event of Kalamazoo's series "A Life Well Lived" on March 15.
“In Kalamazoo, we have a proven track record of turning community vision into action: Ninety-nine percent of the actions in Imagine Kalamazoo 2025 have been completed or are in progress. This wouldn’t be possible without our community showing up and sharing their voices, ideas, and energy to help shape our community.”
“Very few nonhuman climate migrants are moving fast enough [and] the rate of movement is going to increase [which] leads to the conclusion that to avoid extinction, many species are going to require us to intervene via assisted migration."
“Kalamazoo is a beautiful place, but it’s also very small in some ways. People can live in their own bubbles, never seeing or acknowledging the unhoused community. This play keeps the humanity of people in focus. It does not pretend that this group does not exist.”
The once-crumbling 1890s brick buildings on Fulford in the Edison neighborhood have been revitalized and vow Jerico's spaces are full. The hub for businesses and artisans has grown from its beginnings as a place to build electric scooters to one where projects are shared between those who make Jerico their business home.
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