Gingerbread Parade - Participating Business Spotlight: St George Children's Museum
On this Thanksgiving Day, I am grateful for an amazing children's museum in our little community of St. George, Utah. For the last three years, the children's museum has hosted a gingerbread tour to raise funds for the museum. This year they decided not to do it as it had some time and budget constraints. It is a non-profit after all. As soon as I learned about it not happening, I got a little bit sad because I wanted to help promote the event... but that's when I got the idea, to do just that!
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| Gingerbread house creation made by Ginger Farnsworth for the SGCM in 2017 |
I registered with the State of Utah, the St George Gingerbread House Parade (nonprofit) - also known as St George Gingerbread Parade and Gingerbread Parade. Then, I set this whole thing in motion, to again support the St George Children's Museum. But why them? Let's learn a little bit about this great organization.
The mission of the "St. George Children’s Museum is to provide vibrant and engaging interactive activities that invite children and families to discover, imagine and create. The vision of SGCM is to accomplish its mission by welcoming all children and encouraging them to appreciate the power of play and exploration. As a part of this process, we will seek to be a creative space that develops confident, informed children who are excited by inquiry and the world around them."
History
The St. George Children’s Museum is the realization of a long-awaited dream and has been a challenging project for several years. Many people have been unwavering in their goal to create a children’s museum in our community, and there was proven public support for such a venue. Then, the SGCM Board of Directors was formally organized in 2010. Prior to that time, interested citizens met sporadically to discuss possibilities, what a children’s museum should contain and how it could be accomplished. Challenges included location, funding, exhibits and receiving a non-profit, tax-exempt status. The Board was organized to meet these challenges. SGCM was incorporated in March 2011 and received non-profit status in September 2012. Several location sites were considered during this time and in 2013, the City of St. George extended an invitation to rent the two lower floors of the historic Dixie Academy building located at 86 South Main for a minimal annual fee. The Lied Museum in Las Vegas was moving to a new location and was willing to donate and/or sell nearly a million dollars worth of exhibits to SGCM. Significant donations were received from the public which provided sufficient funds for these exhibits and professional transportation of them to St. George as well as enough to get the Museum open. Corporate sponsors, generous citizens, and talented artists donated money, time, and talent to create an attraction of the highest quality and one that would rival any children’s museum anywhere!
Location: 86 S Main St, St. George, Utah
Opening hours:
(August to February) Tuesday - Saturday 10am - 5pm.
(March to July) Monday - Saturday 10am - 6pm.
During the annual Kickoff to Christmas, this city-sponsored hometown event where there will be a Santa Dash sponsored by St. George Races, Santa Claus sponsored by Big Kickin Country Radio Station and sister station Star 98, and the beginning of the Gingerbread Parade; December 2, 2019 - the SGCM will be open 6-8pm so come see their Gingerbread House on display!
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| Image from SGCM |
