Community Built Kids' Museum

Open Forum: Martha Bell Graham

[Published in the Daily News-Record to commemorate the Museum’s 10th Anniversary, October 2013]


Take one brick. Add another. Eventually you'll have a structure, but in the beginning you're not exactly sure what it will look like. That's exactly what happened in 2002 when Lisa and Brian Shull of Harrisonburg gathered a group together to discuss the possibility of a new city venture. What gradually emerged became Explore More Discovery Museum, a jewel of downtown Harrisonburg and a place for children built by the community. 

After joining the museum board this year, I spent a few weeks pouring over newspaper clippings, articles, newsletters and pictures in anticipation of the museum’s 10th birthday celebration. Two discoveries surprised me. One was how many people have supported the museum with their time, talents and treasures. Surprised, though, really doesn’t say it; I was thunderstruck.

While the Shulls laid the first brick, many others helped, each adding a special talent, an exact expertise at the right time. In fact, as it grew EMDM demonstrated a community spirit like none other I’ve ever seen in the valley. 

From the first summer — the “pre-history” period — when it was a traveling museum, “Where in the World is the Harrisonburg Children’s Museum?” families, businesses and civic groups stepped up to help. That first eight-week summer, when more than 600 children participated, was built with help from Rockingham Memorial Hospital, WHSV, EMU, JMU and dozens of artist and crafters. Even a sheep shearer pitched in. 

Together they laid a foundation of community support. The Arts Council of the Valley took the fledgling museum under its considerable wing until it could stand on its own and eventually organize as a separate non-profit. 

The next summer, a local realtor helped acquire a short-term lease at a vacant downtown store. With a roof overhead and a door fronting Court Square, volunteers rallied. They planned, painted, plumbed and built. By summer 2003, the museum opened for seven weeks with five exhibits. More than 7,000 visited.  

But a summer museum wasn’t enough. So the board extended the lease, and on Oct. 14, 2003, opened the doors with new exhibits and a multi-purpose room where they could host birthday parties and special classes. Finally, it was a real brick and mortar children’s museum.

Within a year, visits jumped to 35,000. The museum added more exhibits, after-school enrichment programs and more part-time staff to assist executive director Lisa Shull. They worked with schools to host field trips and created a Youth Advisory Board to involve older children and teenagers. 

Volunteers, businesses, civic groups and scores of local college students were ever present. They manned it, supported it financially, and handled the chores from cleaning the museum’s large plate-glass windows to maintaining the website’s “Window.” 

By 2008, the museum had more than 300 volunteers giving hundreds of hours — and a new dream emerged: a permanent home. That dream came true in 2010 when, with the city’s enthusiastic backing, the museum moved into a permanent location at 150 S. Main St. The new building doubled the museum’s square footage with room to grow. 

Builders, printers, painters, corporate executives, small business owners, journalists, crafters, farmers, EMTs, artists, jewelers, grocers, bankers, doctors, librarians, lawyers, teachers, restaurateurs, collegians and families provided new exhibits, financial support and hands-on help. In the year following the move, nearly 5,000 children participated in SOL-based field trips, the museum offered hundreds of workshops and special programs, and attendance skyrocketed to 55,000.

As I studied the museum’s history, a second thing surprised me — how faithfully this newspaper supports the museum. At every turn, every event — like a devoted friend — the DNR has helped publicize programs, celebrate milestones and keep the public informed. To say their help has been essential is a gross understatement.

The museum this community has built is a jewel, a special place in a reinvigorated downtown. It speaks volumes about a city and county that pulled together to create something great for its children. To each and every one of them, to Lisa and Brian Shull, to the city government, to all the volunteers, to the civic groups and businesses — and to the DNR — I, for one, am very thankful for the museum you built, one brick at a time.