If the Modesto Children’s Museum was graded by squeals of delight, it would receive an A+ or, more accurately, an “Ayyyyyiiii+!”
Venture inside the brightly-colored patchwork facade on any given Saturday and those squeals, and so many smiles, will greet you as little ones skip through all the interactive exhibits in the two-story former adults-only nightclub transformed into a children’s educational playspace.
As it celebrates its second anniversary this month, the grassroots project turned into reality – the dream of three founding families and the result of their and a lot of other Valley families and groups help – stands as a stellar example of a community coming together to fill a need.
And what a need they have filled. In its first 730-days open the museum (called MoChiMu for shortness and cuteness) has posted impressive attendance numbers. In the first year some 83,000 children and their families were reached through ticket sales, field trips, membership and events – nearly meeting the board’s pre-opening expectation of bringing “85,000 extra guests” to downtown each year right out of the gate.
In its second year there was an expected small drop-off with some 79,614 families and children attending via tickets, field trips, membership and events. It seems the lure of that new-car smell is true of museums, too. But what is more impressive is that the museum has been able to grow its low-cost access program year-over-year.
The museum increased its participation in Museums for All visitors from 19,703 the first year to 22,859 in its second year. The program allows families who receive SNAP (the federal program formerly known as food stamps which is called CaFresh in state)/EBT (electronic benefits cards that hold CalFresh other cash benefit program dollars) to get reduced admission. In Modesto that means $5 per person over the age of 1 instead of $15 each.
That matters in a region like the San Joaquin Valley, which has the highest percentage of households enrolled in SNAP for any region across all of California. According to U.S. Census data, across the eight-county swath of the Valley, 19% of all households rely on the program for help with food.
In Stanislaus County, some 24,842 households use SNAP, according to Census data – accounting for 14% of households. That’s almost as many as the entire number of households in Turlock, the county’s second largest city, which has some 25,660 total households, Census records show.
So, bottom line, that’s a lot of families across the county who are eligible for a little reduced-cost fun, and it’s encouraging to see more of those folks are finding the museum each year.
MoChiMu Board President Amy Abid Jeffries said ticket prices were her big issue when she joined the efforts to get the museum open in 2021.
“Our mission is for all children,” said the attorney who grew up in Modesto and now has children aged 5, 9, 14. “Because my mother taught in the airport district, and I know that trying to charge $20 (each for) a family of five, it’s not going to happen… And so I’m so pleased that this program has been a hit.”
Hit would be an understatement. According to Museums for All, across the country discounted tickets at their 161 participating children’s museums in the program accounted for 9.24% of all visitors. Last year in Modesto, of the almost 60,000 ticket-buying guests at the museum 38% were Museums for All visitors. The need is clearly there.
The program’s success does present its challenges though, because participation in the national initiative does not come with any funding. So local centers have to make up that difference themselves through fundraising and other means.
Founding CEO Chelsie Webster, who was brought on six months before MoChiMu’s September 2023 opening, said the museum is a unique kind of nonprofit that earns 60% of its revenue through direct ticket and other sales. While it also has a number of larger donors and sponsors, annual revenue grows or falls with admission.
“We are really trying to figure out how to best build support in our community, but build sustainable support,” Webster said. “(We’re) setting our eyes on potentially building out an endowment so that we can really raise support for the museum and have that support keep the museum alive for generations.”
Among their more creative and festive fundraisers is their upcoming annual anniversary party, the Imagination Celebration Gala, which is scheduled for Friday, Sept. 19. While everything else about the museum is for the kids, this after-hours event is an adults-only affair with magic, comedy, music, palm reading, inventive cocktails and more. Tickets are $125 and available at their website.
“That’s one of our core fundraisers to bring in funds,” said Jake Barber, who with his wife Katie was among the founding families along with Chelsea and Ryan Foy and Jena and Ryan Brady who started the grassroots effort. Last year the fundraiser helped to fund scholarships for children to attend camp programming. Funds also keep the Museums for All program running.
“(The Imagination Celebration) is a really big night that really helps make sure that the doors stay open for those children as well,” he said.
And for parents throughout the Valley, that’s what matters most. Manteca resident Sari Morano came with her daughter Siena for the second time to the museum earlier this month.
“I love it, it’s really fun for the kids and my daughter just loves the water lab,” she said. And to punctuate the point, Siena lets out a little squeal. Review, registered.
For more information about the Modesto Children’s Museum visit www.modestochildrensmuseum.org.
Marijke Rowland is the editor of The Modesto Focus, a project of the nonprofit Central Valley Journalism Collaborative. Contact Rowland at marijke@cvlocaljournalism.org.