Rockford’s Discovery Center named top museum by ‘Forbes’

Online Staff Report

Forbes magazine named Rockford’s Discovery Center Museum as one of the “12 Best Children’s Museums in the Nation” Jan. 30.

The Discovery Center was the only Illinois museum named in the article, which can be viewed online at http://www.forbes.com/sites/larryolmsted/2012/01/30/12-best-childrens-museums-in-the-u-s.

Sarah Wolf, executive director of Discovery Center Museum, said: “We are so proud of our museum for receiving this national recognition. Almost all the other museums selected in the Top 12 are located in large metropolitan areas, and being among those museums chosen is truly an honor. We know that parents and patrons pay attention to the opinion of a publication like Forbes, and we are thrilled to bring such positive recognition to our museum and our community.”

In the Forbes story, Discovery Center shares the spotlight with museums such as the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis; Boston Children’s Museum; Brooklyn Children’s Museum; Children’s Museum of Denver; Children’s Museum of Houston; and the Minnesota Children’s Museum. More than 200 children’s museums are in the United States.

Discovery Center served almost 255,000 people in 2011, a new record for the museum. It served almost 170,000 visitors on site (a 4 percent increase since 2010, and a 20 percent increase in the last five years) and another 85,000 through the museum’s outreach programs.

Forbes is an American media and publishing company.

In 2002, Child magazine ranked Discovery Center fourth in the first-ever survey to identify the 10 best children’s museums in the nation. Then in 2009, Discovery Center was included in the book The Ten Best of Everything: Families in the category of children’s museums. In 2010, Discovery Center completed construction of a major expansion, adding new galleries, new exhibits, new classrooms, a 5,000-square-foot traveling exhibition hall and more.

Discovery Center Museum is a nonprofit organization creating opportunities for joyful learning and discovery through hands-on experiences in science and art for all ages. The museum contains more than 250 hand-on exhibits and an award-winning outdoor science park.

Discovery Center is inside Riverfront Museum Park, 711 N. Main St., Rockford. General admission to the museum is $7 adults, $7 children (ages 2-17) and free to children age 1 and younger and museum members. Hours open are 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday-Saturday, and noon-5 p.m., Sunday.

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