G-RAD CrestG-RAD is a blogging community based in Grand Rapids, MI.
History
G-RAD, in its current form, was started on June 17, 2005 by Ben Schaafsma and George Wietor. Michael Greene later joined the administration of the site in 2006.
Evolution
Originally, G-RAD began with a bunch of people getting together to start an online publication highlighting the peculiarities of and the goings-on in the six Grand Rapids neighborhoods in which they lived. Augmenting the travel center-like content was meant to be a set of personal blogs and eventually the founders wanted to open their own store featuring all Grand Rapids-made products. After meetings and meetings, the inertia behind the G-RAD project began to die. The members started discussing different ways to use the site and eventually decided it would be a good idea to strip the project of a few of its loftier aspirations and reform as a blogging community.
Goal
The goal of the new G-RAD, initially, was to form a community based around two basic common denominators: location (Grand Rapids, MI) and medium (blogging).
Membership
G-RAD has about 30 bloggers, and 200 forum contributors. It continues to grow.
