Salmon in the river, 92 miles of trail: downtown Rockford's backyard

Rockford’s downtown works because two great public amenities cross right in the middle of it. The first is the Rogue River, a state-designated trout stream that tumbles over the little Rockford Dam beside the shops: in fall the pool below the dam fills with chinook salmon, and from fall through spring steelhead follow, which is why you’ll see anglers in waders a cast away from people eating ice cream on the boardwalk. It’s one of the closest serious river fisheries to Grand Rapids, and locals treat it like the community aquarium.

The second is the Fred Meijer White Pine Trail, the rail-trail that runs roughly 92 miles from Comstock Park north to Cadillac — among the longest in Michigan — and passes directly through downtown Rockford on the old Grand Rapids & Indiana railroad grade. On a summer Saturday the trail delivers a steady parade of cyclists straight to the cafes, and residents use it like a linear park: run north along the river, ride south to Grand Rapids, no car required. River, trail, and town in one intersection — that’s the Rockford formula.