Remembering Kalamazoo’s Rainbow Valley Miniature Golf

Once a major hot spot for mini golf, batting cages and even a little fishing in Kalamazoo. What happened to Rainbow Valley? 

Rainbow Valley was once a great place to spend the weekend and summer days with friends. From the Facebook page Vanished Kalamazoo, here are some of the memories being shared.

You could find rainbow trout in the stream that ran behind the mini golf course. -Marty Kloosterman

 

Went there on my first real date! - Rhonda Williams

 

They also owned a large lot to the left of that house which each spring they would burn to get rid of the snakes. I think it was built in about 1959. They also had a set of batting cages between their garage and the small stream that they had damed up to make a little pond. Before the Mini Golf Course, that area was a swamp that provide both an adventure and a way to get into trouble on our way home from South Burdick Elementary School. - Douglas Slater

The View from Above Rainbow Valley

Take a view from above with this photo from a drone showing the pond and you can almost see the batting cages from this video showing an off-limits stretch of Portage Creek in Kalamazoo.

Do you remember Rainbow Valley? Share your memories in the comments.

BONUS VIDEO - See the Abandoned Slide Away North of Kalamazoo