There were no golden shovels or dirt to turn Monday as community leaders gathered along the Grand River in downtown Grand Rapids for a ceremonial groundbreaking nearly two decades in the making.
Instead, members of the Grand River Bands of Ottawa Indians blessed the water as leaders of the Restore the Rapids project waded in at Ah-Nab-Awen Park, holding large stones. The moment marked a symbolic beginning for the long-anticipated effort to remove four low-head dams and return the river to a more natural state.