Sunday was an extraordinary experience at the Grand Rapids Children’s Museum. Thanks to the generosity of Amway and Fifth Third, 2,429 adults and children visited the museum for free!
That number may not be the highest number in one day ever at the museum ( staff member recalls a 2,600 day), but that would have been an eight or twelve hour day. Yesterday we were open for five hours. There were lines out in the cold from 45 minutes before opening to after 4:00. Some waited an hour in the cold. That means we operated at our 600 person fire code capacity until just before closing.
Rather than try to describe the entire day, here are a few lasting impressions:
Staff – every time I saw one of them, either they were smiling or they were making someone else smile.
Complaints – none
Funny moment – I talked to two little girls, twins, who looked about four years old. As they waited in line I asked them several questions. They answered each one in perfect unrehearsed unison.
Thank you’s – In spite of the crowded conditions, nearly everyone said thank you as they left, along with multiple comments about how much fun they had.
There were a lot of first time visitors to our museum, and a lot of families taking in at least one other museum downtown during the day.
To Amway and Fifth Third, those 2,429 thank you’s, go to you.
-Bob Dean, Executive Director, GRCM.
