Children’s Museum’s Short Pump Location Celebrates 100,000 Visitors

A new branch of a long-time Richmond institution celebrated a big milestone this weekend. On Sunday, the Children’s Museum of Richmond’s Short Pump location welcomed its 100,000th guest since opening its doors in June. CMoR is the first children’s museum in the nation to open a satellite location for the purposes of both generating additional […]

February 22, 2011; 8:15 AM • by Downtown Short Pump Staff

The foot traffic has also helped neighboring businesses in West Broad Village.

“We didn’t have any relevant models to predict attendance,” said Karen Coltrane, President and CEO of the children’s museum, “but we felt strongly that the demographics in the Short Pump area would support a quality children’s venue. We’ve been pleasantly surprised at the response.”

Even more significant is the fact that healthy numbers in Short Pump have not translated into a corresponding drop in attendance at the main location. Additionally, museum membership has grown by 43% to over 5,000 member families in that time, the highest in the organization’s 30 year history.

“There’s a substantial silver lining here,” added Coltrane. “The Short Pump location contributes additional revenue, allowing more charitable contributions to support programming for children. For example, every 1st and 2nd grader in the City of Richmond Public Schools is visiting CMoR-Central for a free field trip program based on the museum’s Little Golden Books visiting art exhibition, thanks to support from MeadWestvaco. By serving more children in western Henrico, we can provide even more for children throughout the region.”