June 16, 2025 • 4 mins
John VanderHaagen, Director of Communications at the Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park joins us to discuss upcoming concerts and family events at the Meijer Gardens!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
And this is WES Michigan's morning News Steve Kelly. I
see Laurence Smith Bikitis back with us soon playing a
little cheap trick in the background. It'll make sense in
a couple of minutes. As we get ready for summer
officially kicking off on Friday, we've already been ticket and
giving tickets away to one of the biggest summer things
(00:21):
in all of West Michigan, and that's the fifth third
Summer Concert series of Frederick Meyer Gardens. Their director of
communications is John vander Hagen in back in studio with us. John,
thanks for doing this till.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Yeah, thanks for having me on. Good morning guys.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
We're going to talk a little bit about a partnership
between Wood Radio and Frederick Meyer Gardens and talk concerts
and ticket giveaways. But let's start with just general fun
at Frederick Meyer Gardens. Kids are out of school and
you've got a ton going on we do.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Yeah, so it's a great time. You know, every season
of the year is great at Meyer Gardens, but summer especially,
you know, where things are waking up outside. It's nice
and green, the flowers are popping, there's lots of happy
kids running around now that school is so just a
great place to be. We've got things daily happening in
the Leena Meyer Children's Garden. We've got wonderful sculpture exhibitions.
We've got brand new electric trams for you to take
(01:09):
the family out get a sneak peak of that sculpture park.
So yeah, lots going on at Meyer Gardens, including the
fifth Third Bank Summer Concerts.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
So we've been members for years. Our kids absolutely adore
all the activities. Will's got three summer camps this summer
at Demayer Gardens. But you said it, this summer concerts series,
it is such a gem. Tickets can be hard to
get because so many people look forward to this lineup
and it's kicked off in a big way already.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Absolutely, So we're about five shows in this summer so far.
Had a couple of great sold out shows under our belt,
but kind of a common misperception that tickets are all
sold out. So yes, we do get a great support
from our members. But we've got several tickets left for
a lot of different shows, including tonight with Diana Krall.
Then we go into a couple sold out shows this week,
(01:57):
but coming up, we've got Jason isbel in the four
hundred unit. We've got wine own a jud So lots
of shows coming up kind of right around the corner
with tickets still available.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
Sorry, but I'm playing the Psychedelic First Nice in the background,
and not long after.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
That tickets still available for that one.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
They are. Yeah, absolutely, so train is sold out. Train
is sold out. Unfortunately, Yes, I can transition to cake.
We've got just a few left, so that one was
sold out, but we get tickets back when band and
management don't always use theirs. So definitely want to encourage
folks if they've seen a show was sold out earlier
(02:35):
on check back, because often we'll get twenty or thirty
tickets back from bands or band management. We put those
up for sale so that we make sure that as
many tickets are all as possible.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Wow, has anyone gotten in trouble for excessive dancing?
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Have you ever? Somebody celebrated excessive a lot of things,
but dancing is not one of them. Yeah, So we
encourage that. We love that. So if that's gonna be
you come on and push the boundaries. We love to
see that.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
You.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Just we had the press release about cheh Houly tell
us a little bit.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
That's next Yeah, So next May, we're really excited to
welcome back Chehooly So for a show at Chihuly called
Chihuly at Meyer Gardens, sponsored by our friends at Mcatowa Bank.
We're really looking forward to welcoming back the wonderful glass
art of Dale Chihuly, So both inside in our sculpture
galleries as well as outside throughout the gardens and Sculpture Park.
A major exhibition with Dale Chihuly, which is this is
(03:26):
our third in thirty years, So really excited to welcome
him back. He's only showing in two places in the
world next year here in Venice, so it'll be a
wonderful show. Yeah, we're really lucky to get that, and
it's going to be just a truly beautiful sculpture exhibition
like everything that we do, but even magnified with Chihuly.
So May through November of twenty twenty six. More information
(03:48):
will be on our website as it develops, Myergardens dot org.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
When you put the numbers together, it's sometimes you think
of the city the size of Grand Rapids, but the
attractions that we have here are way betterigger than the
size of Grand rapids because Frederick Meyer Gardens shows up
on these top ten lists for world destination.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Yeah, definitely, including top one list. We're the name three
years in a row of the USA Today's Top Sculpture Park.
So in addition to all of the wonderful attendance accolades
that we get, we're really proud to be recognized by
some of these top tier organizations.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
And we at Wood Radio will be a part of
every one of those concerts, will have tickets to give
away to all of them moving forward, so just be listening.
We'll tell you when and you can win.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
John vander Hagen, Director of Communications at Frederick Meyer Garden
and Sculpture Park, well.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Done, thanks for having me. As always, he had no notes.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
That was all off the top of his head.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
Passion
And this is WES Michigan's morning News Steve Kelly. I
see Laurence Smith Bikitis back with us soon playing a
little cheap trick in the background. It'll make sense in
a couple of minutes. As we get ready for summer
officially kicking off on Friday, we've already been ticket and
giving tickets away to one of the biggest summer things
(00:21):
in all of West Michigan, and that's the fifth third
Summer Concert series of Frederick Meyer Gardens. Their director of
communications is John vander Hagen in back in studio with us. John,
thanks for doing this till.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Yeah, thanks for having me on. Good morning guys.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
We're going to talk a little bit about a partnership
between Wood Radio and Frederick Meyer Gardens and talk concerts
and ticket giveaways. But let's start with just general fun
at Frederick Meyer Gardens. Kids are out of school and
you've got a ton going on we do.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Yeah, so it's a great time. You know, every season
of the year is great at Meyer Gardens, but summer especially,
you know, where things are waking up outside. It's nice
and green, the flowers are popping, there's lots of happy
kids running around now that school is so just a
great place to be. We've got things daily happening in
the Leena Meyer Children's Garden. We've got wonderful sculpture exhibitions.
We've got brand new electric trams for you to take
(01:09):
the family out get a sneak peak of that sculpture park.
So yeah, lots going on at Meyer Gardens, including the
fifth Third Bank Summer Concerts.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
So we've been members for years. Our kids absolutely adore
all the activities. Will's got three summer camps this summer
at Demayer Gardens. But you said it, this summer concerts series,
it is such a gem. Tickets can be hard to
get because so many people look forward to this lineup
and it's kicked off in a big way already.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Absolutely, So we're about five shows in this summer so far.
Had a couple of great sold out shows under our belt,
but kind of a common misperception that tickets are all
sold out. So yes, we do get a great support
from our members. But we've got several tickets left for
a lot of different shows, including tonight with Diana Krall.
Then we go into a couple sold out shows this week,
(01:57):
but coming up, we've got Jason isbel in the four
hundred unit. We've got wine own a jud So lots
of shows coming up kind of right around the corner
with tickets still available.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
Sorry, but I'm playing the Psychedelic First Nice in the background,
and not long after.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
That tickets still available for that one.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
They are. Yeah, absolutely, so train is sold out. Train
is sold out. Unfortunately, Yes, I can transition to cake.
We've got just a few left, so that one was
sold out, but we get tickets back when band and
management don't always use theirs. So definitely want to encourage
folks if they've seen a show was sold out earlier
(02:35):
on check back, because often we'll get twenty or thirty
tickets back from bands or band management. We put those
up for sale so that we make sure that as
many tickets are all as possible.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Wow, has anyone gotten in trouble for excessive dancing?
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Have you ever? Somebody celebrated excessive a lot of things,
but dancing is not one of them. Yeah, So we
encourage that. We love that. So if that's gonna be
you come on and push the boundaries. We love to
see that.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
You.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Just we had the press release about cheh Houly tell
us a little bit.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
That's next Yeah, So next May, we're really excited to
welcome back Chehooly So for a show at Chihuly called
Chihuly at Meyer Gardens, sponsored by our friends at Mcatowa Bank.
We're really looking forward to welcoming back the wonderful glass
art of Dale Chihuly, So both inside in our sculpture
galleries as well as outside throughout the gardens and Sculpture Park.
A major exhibition with Dale Chihuly, which is this is
(03:26):
our third in thirty years, So really excited to welcome
him back. He's only showing in two places in the
world next year here in Venice, so it'll be a
wonderful show. Yeah, we're really lucky to get that, and
it's going to be just a truly beautiful sculpture exhibition
like everything that we do, but even magnified with Chihuly.
So May through November of twenty twenty six. More information
(03:48):
will be on our website as it develops, Myergardens dot org.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
When you put the numbers together, it's sometimes you think
of the city the size of Grand Rapids, but the
attractions that we have here are way betterigger than the
size of Grand rapids because Frederick Meyer Gardens shows up
on these top ten lists for world destination.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Yeah, definitely, including top one list. We're the name three
years in a row of the USA Today's Top Sculpture Park.
So in addition to all of the wonderful attendance accolades
that we get, we're really proud to be recognized by
some of these top tier organizations.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
And we at Wood Radio will be a part of
every one of those concerts, will have tickets to give
away to all of them moving forward, so just be listening.
We'll tell you when and you can win.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
John vander Hagen, Director of Communications at Frederick Meyer Garden
and Sculpture Park, well.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Done, thanks for having me. As always, he had no notes.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
That was all off the top of his head.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
Passion
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