Community gets last look at discovery center before December opening

By Ashley Luthans

The Mosaic Life Care Foundation hosted a final open house for the new inspireU Children’s Discovery Center on Wednesday.

The final sneak peek Wednesday gave the community an idea of what to expect when the center opens on Dec. 26.

Julie Gaddie, president of the Mosaic Life Care Foundation, said the center is intended to be a space where families can connect with each other.

“So the discovery center is really built for children and their families, birth to 10 years old,” Gaddie said. “And when they come in, this is going to be a high-energy play environment. It is designed to put down our technology, to put away our devices and to reinvest in our families and our young people.”

Many community members are excited to see this project come to fruition, including Mayor John Josendale.

“It’ll be neat to see the parents’ reactions, but what I wanna see is when the kids get to see it for the first time,” Josendale said. “I can just see kids getting excited about it … being able to play in it and learn.”

Candace Castle, an artist who will have a feature exhibit for the soft opening, said the new center will also be beneficial for Downtown St. Joseph.

“I just love seeing Downtown come alive again,” Castle said. “And I think this’ll be a great way to bring families back Downtown.”

The center will contain more than 20 exhibits for children, as well as a rooftop exploratorium and a gift shop.

The discovery center is located in the Plymouth Building at 521 Felix St.

Once open in December, regular hours for the center will be Tuesday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays from noon to 5 p.m.