Community Corner
Children's Museum Joins Farmer's Market
Dublin Farmer's Market Adds Valley Children's Museum to its Thursday nights.
Families can now experience the hands-on Valley Children’s Museum every Thursday night at the Farmer’s Market.
The mobile museum is a 53-foot trailer outfitted with a Missions of California exhibit. The interactive activities change every week to match the market’s themes.
The museum’s board president Rick Beaumont said former Dublin mayor Janet Lockhart, who is on the museum’s board, came up with the idea to bring the museum to the weekly event.
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“[Lockhart] approached the [City of Dublin] and they loved the idea of having us out there,” Beaumont said. “They jumped at it and welcomed having us at the farmer’s market.”
Beaumont said it was expensive to prepare the site for the mobile museum and that the grounds outside the trailer had to be prepared for use by children.
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The museum’s goal is to create an environment for children and families to learn through interactive play, Beaumont said.
Activities include painting, coloring, basket weaving and candy making.
“We offer a real historical perspective of how life was back on the missions and the different activities that they did,” Beaumont said. “We paint a little picture of how life was back then … We change it up every week so there is a different activity.”
Last week, children made “prairie candy” by mixing prunes, dates and raisins. They also have made pots and furniture.
Beaumont said the museum was founded in 1999 in Livermore by a parent-teacher group.
“It has basically evolved since then,” he said. “It’s tough with a project like this to make a dream a reality, but there are a lot of us who stay with it because we feel it would be great for the valley.”
The long-term goal is for the museum to have a permanent location in Camp Parks.
The city granted 2.5 acres of civic space from Camp Parks to the museum for a permanent facility, but Beaumont said it would be some time before a museum would be built there.
In the meantime, visitors can enjoy the experience at the Dublin Farmer’s Market. The museum is also available to visit schools and organizations.
There is no admission fee but the nonprofit gladly accepts donations. Anyone interested in volunteering can visit the museum’s website at http://valleychildrensmuseum.org.
The Dublin Farmer's Market is held Thursdays through October at from 4 to 8 p.m.
