InspireU Children’s Museum sees more than 11,000 visitors since opening
Business is booming for St. Joseph's new children's museum following its debut in late December.
Located at 521 Felix St., the InspireU Children's Discovery Museum has seen crowds of people flock to the facility since its grand opening on Dec. 26, more than 11,000 and counting to be exact.
“On the weekends, we're seeing 700 to 1,000 people come through the doors,” said Katherine Patterson-Paronto, director of the InspireU Children's Discovery Museum. "We did think we would get a lot of attention. I will say 11,000 is a little bit more than we thought."
While a majority of visitors have come from St. Joseph and Savannah, a considerable portion are coming from Kansas City. Visitors from roughly a dozen different states have come through the museum's doors.
Patterson-Paronto said they've seen an overwhelming amount of positive responses from residents and families about the new addition to St. Joseph.
“One of the things that we hear from visitors is that they're inviting their friends from Kansas City because they're so proud to show off what we have here in Saint Joe,” Patterson-Paronto said. “We've had folks from Georgia, New York, Kansas, of course."
The museum started hosting its first field trips this week, with the entire first grade of the St. Joseph School District getting the first opportunity to explore and learn. Along with other grades, the museum will host field trips with local pre-schools and daycares, a two-hour free-roam experience.
The 35,000-square-foot facility features 21 exhibits and interactive play areas across four different floors, fostering and encouraging engagement not just between children and exhibits but also with their parents.
"We really want to make sure that 20 years from now, the kids who are coming as kids will bring their kids back," she said. "So we are not a space where you drop your kids off and go away. It is a space where you have time to connect as a family outside of screens and really have these rich and engaging experiences."
With the heavy lifting finished for the museum's opening, staff are turning their focus to brainstorming ideas for new programs, learning opportunities and partnerships with local organizations to keep things fresh, including a summer camp program planned for 2025.
“One of the things we're doing right now is local artists and makers come into our space, and we have a little one-person studio and they come and it's basically four hours to do your art or your craft. And then kids come by and they talk to you about what you're doing."
Along with creative and hands-on learning experiences, career building and connections to St. Joseph are integrated throughout the discovery center, connections they hope will spark an interest in local careers and job fields like engineering and farming.
A variety of exhibits are sponsored long-term by different local companies like Gray Manufacturing, Hillyard, Missouri American Water and Altec.
"They've made commitments to us for the next five to 10 years. And so we know we're getting some operating funds every year, which takes a lot of that pressure off of us," she said. "Because we are really an educational and a nonprofit organization, we made our prices as low as possible so that we could get as many kids in the spaces as we could."
Information on prices, exhibits, field trips and more can be found at www.inspireu.com.
