Since taking on the role of Executive Director in May of 2018, Huey’s Hideaway Children’s Museum striven for sustainability while meeting the needs of our community in alignment with our mission—to inspire children, connect families and build community through exploration, creativity, lifelong learning and play. As we move into the future, enhancements in automation and self-service will enable the Museum to continue to serve local children and families while remaining viable for many years to come.

With fun, educational, family-oriented and affordable-to-all programming, due in part, to a scholarship program made possible by Lakeside Financial Consultants with the Flora Family, Huey’s Hideaway is dedicated to serving the families and residents of north-central Wisconsin. Located in downtown Medford, the Museum’s interactive exhibits let visitors explore new ideas and expand their imagination.

Huey's Hideaway opened its doors on June 8, 2017, through various successful campaigns and fundraisers that helped turn an old apartment and commercial space into a wonderland of discovery for nearly 6,500 learners and counting. Since first coming together, the Museum’s Board of Directors, with area volunteers, has raised nearly $468,000 as of October 24, 2019; with the largest donation of $100,000 being granted by the Memorial Member Association.

We are also thrilled to report our progress in developing Huey’s Hideaway’s new, expanded outdoor learning environment. In 2019, Taylor County generously gave $20,000 to jump-start the project. The Taylor County Forestry Department also donated trees and labor. Their in-kind donation of nearly $2,000 included white spruce, sugar maples, red maples, red oak, white oak and white birch to be planted in the outdoor space. We are so incredibly thankful to be part of a County that supports projects like ours.

Our outdoor expansion and natural playground officially broke ground this October with plans to add Huey’s Clubhouse, sponsored by Time Federal Savings Bank; Huey’s Pergola, sponsored by Abby Bank; and our Outdoor Amphitheatre, sponsored by Marathon Cheese, in Spring 2020.

With the help of Peoples Choice Credit Union, we added a new character and friend for Huey. This partnership will enable our team to publish a children’s book in early 2020 with a second book to follow with an additional character, Clicky, sponsored by TDS.

We estimate that the entire expansion project will cost $156,550 over the next several years. To date, the Museum has secured $103,800 in committed funds, with $71,300 paid and $60,500 in remaining pledges pending the next five years. Our overall five-year goal is to raise $268,000, which should effectively leave the Museum without a mortgage moving forward.

The Museum’s expansion will address the growing prevalence of “nature deficit disorder” among children in our area—a troubling lack of engagement with nature, especially for kids living in city spaces. The results of numerous studies confirm the dramatic and worrying consequences of the current situation: children today spend half the time their parents did playing outside, and the average American child spends five to eight hours a day in front of a digital screen. These behavioral changes have resulted in physical health problems including obesity, mental health issues and children’s growing inability to assess risks to themselves and others.

But, there’s a solution. Outdoor classrooms are proven to enhance cognitive abilities, improve eyesight and nutrition, support creativity and problem solving, reduce stress, minimize symptoms of Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and improve academic scores. These positive outcomes of nature therapy address several Taylor County priorities for a healthier community; including better behavioral health, obesity prevention, and the development of healthy and safe environments.

Huey’s Hideaway’s expanded outdoor exhibit will be the only children’s museum green space of its kind in the entire State of Wisconsin—offering the rare opportunity in this digital age for students to return to nature. Outdoor programming will be influenced by the Museum’s seven indoor exhibits that explore areas such as conservation, agriculture, STEAM fields, and everyday social skills, and will expand upon these foundational subjects.

Educational topics will also be delivered through a variety of programs including lectures, workshops, classes, and camps with themes such as “Green Handed Gardeners” and “Nature Rangers.” By offering off-campus programming—which includes events at traveling trunks, expos and local fairs—Huey’s Hideaway brings these opportunities into the community where families can be engaged in novel and diverse ways.

The new outdoor space will expose children to the science all around us—from the plants in our greenhouse and gardens to the butterfly life cycle and various tree species that are planted within the space. Outdoor exhibits will help children develop skills related to technology, problem solving, creativity, self-expression, drama, and art, as well as mathematical and spatial reasoning. Programming is intended to inspire children to explore—not just at Huey’s, but also in their own backyards—as they develop a lasting, positive relationship with nature and their own curiosity.

Further, the outdoor space will address a critical, growing problem throughout Wisconsin: food insecurity. The expansion will offer extra room to explore, play and learn while also providing locally-grown produce which can be used to educate and fuel our learners. With this space comes the potential for food pantry donations, camps related to food production and urban farming, and revenue from the sale of produce and goods grown in the proposed future greenhouse and gardens within the city lot adjacent to the Museum in downtown Medford.

While our area boasts opportunities to explore nature in forests, parks and community gardens where children can interact with their surroundings and others, very few children have the opportunity to learn freely within a safe environment that has been specifically created for their enjoyment and development. Some daycares and educational institutions allow for similar experiences, but many do not happen organically or alongside caretakers or parents. At Huey’s Hideaway, we want parents to not only enjoy watching their children play, but also to engage with them and help expose young people to the power of play, healthy eating and nature.

Overall, our strategic goals for the outdoor learning environment are to increase traffic, revenue and programming opportunities to further our mission of building community. Maintaining long-term financial sustainability is a primary operational objective of Huey’s Hideaway, as we strive to develop revenue-generating ventures to enhance access to this valuable resource for years to come. The Museum hopes to maintain a variety of summer programs to meet the needs of children and families in Taylor County. Huey’s Hideaway also hopes to serve visitors from surrounding communities to contribute to the local economy and function as a valuable educational asset for areas that lack these critical learning opportunities.

Sincerely,

James G. Stokes

Executive Director

Huey's Hideaway Children's Museum