Wonderfeet Kids’ Museum celebrates one year in new location and unveils new exhibit
VermontBiz by Olga Peters Wonderfeet Executive Director Danielle Monroe paused for a phone call while preparing for the museum’s May 11 birthday party.
“We really want this to be something that everyone in the community can access,” Monroe said. “So when you're playing here, you're also playing with everyone in the community [and Wonderfeet] becomes a common ground, where you're interacting with people who maybe you wouldn't on a regular basis.”
Walking into Wonderfeet is like walking into a Vermont community. From a pint-sized train station to identifying produce at a child-sized farmers’ market, visiting a snowy mountain, serving food at a diner, and sorting recycling items into the side of a replica Casella truck, each exhibit mimics a place children might see daily.
“In designing the museum, our concept always was, we're gonna make a version of a Vermont town that kids will recognize,” Monroe said.
On the surface, the exhibits foster play. On a deeper level, the play encourages children to try different activities that may also point them toward future careers.
At Wonderfeet, kids can imagine their future lives in Rutland County rather than a future that happens somewhere else.
Wonderfeet held a Grand Opening and Birthday Party on May 11 to commemorate its one-year anniversary in its Merchants Row location, which is also the site of Green Mountain Power’s (GMP) Energy Innovation Center.
For approximately eight years, the museum occupied a 3,000-square-foot storefront on Center Street before moving into the 9,000-square-foot GMP building last year.
“So it almost tripled our size,” Monroe said. “It also gave us a second floor that we can utilize for field trips, school programs, and birthday parties on the weekends. That's been a really important growth portion for our fundraising.”
Summer 2021, GMP Vice President Steve Costello, asked Monroe if she would be interested in moving into the company’s Merchant Row building.
According to Monroe, Costello told her that few employees still worked out of the building since the pandemic. Many had shifted to either hybrid remote work or to GMP’s Post Road location.
Monroe felt the space was perfect. After encouraging conversations with the museum’s supporters and Yoshi Akiyama, a retired designer and former Disney Imagineer who now resides in Manchester, Monroe started fundraising. Eighteen months later, the museum reopened at Merchants Row.
“So it was a very quick turnaround. We did a lot of fundraising very quickly. We were able to maximize an initial investment from Casella, we were able to work with the city of Rutland to get some ARPA money from their COVID funds, and the other thing is, we were able to work with all craftsmen from Vermont,” she said. They blossom from the tiniest kernel of an idea that she gives him and “turn into something truly magical.”
Since it moved in January, the museum has installed three new exhibits.
Working with Killington Resort, the museum created a winter mountain play area.
The museum and Akiyama, in partnership with GMP, have designed a 13-foot-tall robot. Its body is covered with a variety of learning games, and children can climb inside it.
A forest scene with a bear cave and tree house rounds out the new exhibits.
The museum raised approximately $650,000 to complete the three exhibits.
“That's the great part because we were able to leverage things,” Monroe said. “So it wasn't just a straight-up financial investment; it was people donating time, people donating materials. It's Green Mountain Power working out a really great deal for us to use the building. It's all of those things coming together that allowed us to use that budget and stretch it really far.”
Monroe sees the museum’s role as multi-leveled.
First, the museum attracts tourism dollars. According to her, the organization has welcomed more than 30,000 visitors in its 12 months in the Merchants Row building. She also views Wonderfeet's partnerships with local companies as a way to give back to current employees. Meanwhile, the exhibits help develop prospective future employees.
“We really pitched those [partnership] businesses with the idea that by supporting the museum and even taking a role and helping to develop an exhibit — like Casella did and like GMP has done — that they're also giving something back to their employees who lived and raised families here. And they're also establishing a relationship with future employees,” she said.
From its inception, Wonderfeet had two intertwined missions: to serve as an economic driver for downtown and to support children and families.
The idea of Wonderfeet came from a 2010 Creative Economy Forum. According to Monroe, when asked what new entity could build Rutland City’s economy, a children’s museum gained the most votes.
“So while all of the people who are involved in this project are here because we wholeheartedly believe in what children's museums can offer for families and early childhood development, we also hold that mission simultaneously with that it is meant to also fulfill an economic purpose in Rutland County,” she said.
Wonderfeet focuses on early child development. According to Monroe, ensuring children receive vital early childhood education is one of the best returns on investment because 80 percent of a brain’s development happens in the first three years of childhood. Monroe adds that play and relationships build these early neural pathways most effectively.
Monroe explained that while it may look like children are simply playing dress-up or in a fake kitchen, much more happens under the surface. Play can build early math, fine motor, social-emotional, and language skills.
“All of these things are happening concurrently,” she said. “And the best part is that if there's a smile on that child's face, we know that it's working.”
Monroe has witnessed several trends, including families struggling to find affordable childcare and housing shortages. These echo what many communities across Vermont have seen.
It is common for Monroe to see parents who work opposite shifts because they can’t afford childcare.
“So you know, I might see dad with the kiddos, actually, normally, because he's working nights, and he's home with the kids during the day while mom's at work, or vice versa,” she said.
During the pandemic, Monroe said several new families moved to the area. While exciting, it also means the tight housing market is “stretched to its limit.”
Compared to other businesses, Wonderfeet had found employees easily.
“We still have Castleton here in our backyard, which means we have great access to nursing and education students who make great employees,” she said. “But we do see our neighbors downtown definitely struggling to find the workforce to be able to meet the demand because that's the thing, there is certainly a demand in downtown Rutland.”
According to Monroe, many of her fellow business owners have shortened their hours because they lack staff.
Wonderfeet was incorporated as a nonprofit in 2013. In its early stages, she said, the museum tested its concept through pop-up events and taking out short-term leases in empty downtown storefronts.
In addition to the museum Wonderfeet conducts onsite programs, and in local classrooms and offers summer camps.
“In all things, we try to offer multiple ways for families, schools, or whoever it is to make their budget work and still get the experience,” she said.
For example, sometimes hiring a school bus for a field trip costs schools more than the field trip, she said. So Wonderfeet travels to schools that can’t afford transportation.
Families can purchase year-long memberships. If they access food benefits such as WIC or SNAP from the state, the museum will reduce its annual family membership to $25.
Monroe recognizes that many people assume museums are quiet places with placards. A place like Wonderfeet is not a real museum because kids have too much fun.
“But like I said, that's how we know we're making an impact,” she said. “When I see the same families coming back year after year or week after week and saying, Well, we just find something new every time. It's because as the child grows, they're engaging with new things.”
She said that as children develop deeper connections through play, they also build deeper connections with the adult who brings them and with the community they are observing at Wonderfeet.
To support great journalism, access our archives and get unique features like our award-winning profiles, Book of Lists & Business-to-Business Directory, subscribe HERE!
