The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis’ WinterFaire: Behind the scenes
The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis has long reigned supreme for winter wonderland celebrations during the holiday season. This year, a new exhibit promises an extraordinary one-of-a-kind indoor experience. Ahead of this new adventure, theCityMoms sat down with The Children’s Museum’s exhibit developer, Stephanie Eddleman, to bring you a first look at the new exhibit: WinterFaire.
What will WinterFaire offer that sets it apart from other winter-themed celebrations?
WinterFaire is an experience that brings the entire family together throughout the winter season. It is a whimsical and fun experience that lets families simply spend time together, forget about the strains of holiday time, and have fun in a carefree way for all ages. This exhibit capitalizes on nostalgia as it embeds memories from fun events all year round and transports them into a magical and highly interactive world!
Kids young and old have fond memories of Jolly Days. Tell us ‘the why’ behind the decision for the winter change.
Jolly Days was an amazing exhibit, running for more than 25 years. The Children’s Museum wanted something new that would be a great indoor family experience with input from our stakeholders. Surveys, polls, and [a lot] of feedback were collected from focus groups to see what the community wanted to experience. A big theme was togetherness and ways to introduce diversity into the winter celebration experience.
The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis is all about hands-on experiences. What activities will WinterFaire offer?
WinterFaire is split up into four main areas:
In the game area, you’ll meet Flip the Harbor Seal. He is super energetic and loves to play the carnival-style games we know and love with a winter twist.
In the ice cave, you’ll meet a Phoenix named Storm with amazing fun houses for tons of opportunities to get active in a fun and safe way.
Next is the Artisans Corner with Gerty the Beaver. Here families will have opportunities to see objects from the museum’s collection, engage in pretend community play, and learn about other wintertime celebrations such as Diwali, Hanukkah, and Las Posadas.
In the center of the exhibit is the frozen fountain, which is the source of all WinterFaire’s magic. Sensors on the fountain change the colors of the frozen waters. When the six sensors are activated by visitors as a team, the fountain and its magical Chameleon, Indigo, create a colorful show!
What special guests can we expect at WinterFaire?
Santa heard the news and set up a tent in the WinterFaire woods to glamp in style! Santa’s quarters are in a separate area from the exhibit so that the WinterFaire space is maximized while allowing Santa to offer different seating styles for photos. As families wait for their special visit, there’ll be exciting things to see like eye-spy activities and whimsical trunks of gifts and goodies created by each WinterFaire character for Santa.
The focal point of winter land fun at The Children’s Museum has been the slide. So we have to know…does WinterFaire have a slide?
Yes! The slide we know and love will be there and even better with magical enhancements and a new name: WinterSlide!
What final thoughts do you want to share about the new WinterFaire exhibit?
I’ll share two things!
One is another special character, Ember the Red Fox, who welcomes families to the exhibit with a friendly and warm personality.
Finally, I have to give a callout to some special WinterFaire programs. In Gerty’s lantern workshop, families can get free tickets for scheduled times to create a lantern to bring home some Winterfaire magic. The second program is a Winter Fairytale. This is a magical show that takes place around the fountain and shares the story of how WinterFaire came to be. Our website will display the showtimes and no tickets are needed.
For more sneak peeks and to purchase your membership or daily tickets to WinterFaire, visit The Children's Museum of Indianapolis online.
Can’t wait to share your WinterFaire visit? Tell us all the delightful details virtually on our CityMoms messaging platforms on Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok!
Important Dates
November 17, 2023: WinterFaire Preview Night for Museum Members
November 18, 2023 - February 11, 2024: WinterFaire Exhibit
November 18, 2023 - January 7, 2024: WinterSlide
November 24, 2023 - December 24, 2023: Santa Visits
