Morning Buzz: October 23 [Video]

1. Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park saw record-breaking numbers in 2024.

More than 785,000 visitors stopped by during this fiscal year, which ended in September.

That’s the highest annual attendance number it’s seen since it opened three decades ago.Meijer Gardens also had its 15 millionth visitor ever in April. It credited the record-breaking attendance to the national recognition it has received as a top sculpture park, the Butterflies Are Blooming spring exhibition, its summer concert series, and Grand Valley State University loaning it a rare blooming corpse flower in June.

2. Grand Rapids Ballet’s Junior Company is gearing up for its first performance of the season.

It’s happening this Friday through Sunday at the Peter Martin Wege Theatre. “The Toymaker” is a charming, family-friendly ballet that shares the untold backstory of the beloved Drosselmeier from The Nutcracker and how he came to be such a mysterious, magical guy.

For show times and to purchase tickets head to grballet.com.

3. The …