Distinctly Montana Magazine

D I S T I N C T L Y M O N T A N A M A G A Z I N E • S U M M E R 2 0 2 1 1 04 F O R T H E L o v e O F . . . ANOTHER ANOTHER OUTSTANDING MONTANA NONPROFIT. OUTSTANDING MONTANA NONPROFIT. C H I L D R E N ' S M U S E U M O F M O N TA N A S HERRIE NEFF, THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF GREAT FALLS'S CHILDREN'S MUSEUM OF MON- TANA, says that while seeing all the children learn and play is fun, there is one aspect to their experience there that proves bittersweet. And, she says, it happens pretty frequently. "Almost daily we hear the tears of a child that doesn't want to leave as their parents are compelling [them] out the door with promises they'll get to return." It occurs so often, she says, that the staff just giggle when they hear it. "That poor child's tears are the sound of our success," she says. The long journey which ends with so many children crying that they don't want to leave started over 25 years ago, when a group of community leaders met to discuss a problem: the children of Great Falls had few places for educational recreation year-round. So they came up with a plan. The members of the newly founded board applied for non-profit status in 1996, and in 1999 the Children's Museum of Montana opened its doors. The exhibits are mostly targeted toward children up to 10 years of age, but Sherrie can personally attest that children up to at least 75 can have a lot of fun there; her favorite story of children at play in the museum involves a grandma and grampa having an "appointment" with a very young dentist in the Medi- cal Clinic exhibit: "As Grandfather was in the dental chair getting his teeth worked over by one of the boys, Grandma was about to leave the dental clinic when the other grandson tells her very authoritatively, 'No wait Grandma, you have to pay me here!' He was sitting at the computer desk in the front of the clinic for appointments and payments. It was so sweet that the little guy knew exactly how it worked! His grand- mother and I laughed at how intuitive these small minds can be." Like the Medical Clinic, all of the exhibits are intended to promote "real-life play." In the wonderfully imaginative displays children will explore a different side of Great Falls, here reimag- ined as the kid-sized community of "Little Falls." They'll ex- change play money at the Little Falls Credit Union, teach lessons at the Little Falls Schoolhouse, and even tend to the animals at the Little Falls Zoo and Cafe. But the area in which the children seem to spend most of their time is the Little Falls Market, where they shop and pay for groceries while, typically, a little playmate checks them out at the cash register. And there are even opportu- nities to travel back in time at the Little Falls Homestead. Above all, the Children's Museum is a uniquely, perhaps even distinctly Montana experience. As Sherrie says, "I think

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