June 20, 2013
Chronicle Excerpt
A third of the people who visited the Discover! Children’s Museum simply saw the signs and stopped by, while two-thirds made the trip to the Twin City Town Center specifically for fun at the museum.
“I think that was a surprising figure for us,” said Allyn Roe, vice chair of the board overseeing the museum. “We just assumed it was a destination.”
In May alone, the museum saw 1,677 paid visitors, which includes children and adults (anyone age 12 months and younger is free). From February, when the museum opened, through May, the children’s museum welcomed 8,367 paid attendees. In May alone, the museum greeted children on 13 field trips, said Marilyn Chintella, a retired Toledo Middle School teacher who serves as director of the pilot project.
“That’s triple what we forecast for the pilot,” Larry McGee, who backed the museum as former head of the Chehalis Community Renaissance Team, told members of the organization Friday.