Victory and pollinator gardens at the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge will be open to the public on Saturday, June 1, the Manhattan Project National Historical Park said.
The gardens will be open from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. June 1 for the Seeds of Victory Program, the park said in a newsletter.
[Read more…]A historical walk through Jackson Square with the Manhattan Project National Historical Park has been rescheduled to February 10 due to the winter weather in January.
The walk with the National Park Service is titled “Building America’s Secret City: Ranger Walk Through Jackson Square.” It is now scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday, February 10.
“Explore what it took to shape the farms and mud of East Tennessee into the Atomic City,” an event notice said.
[Read more…]
The Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge will celebrate its 50th anniversary with free admission on Saturday, June 10, and Sunday, June 11.
The free weekend and its activities are sponsored by Consolidated Nuclear Security, which manages and operates the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge.
“Visitors will enjoy the museum’s many exhibits and a special scavenger hunt on both days, including a special exhibition that celebrates the museum’s golden anniversary year, ‘CMOR at 50: Past, Present, and Future,'” a press release said. The exhibition features photos from the museum’s 50-year history and a selection of objects from the museum’s collection.
On Sunday, June 11, visitors will also enjoy special activities including arts and crafts, a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) activity, selfie station, and complimentary refreshments. Also, on Sunday the museum’s mascot, Charlie the Curious Bear, will be on hand to interact with visitors, the press release said.
[Read more…]
Barry Stephenson, left, Michele Sanders and Beth Shea stand on steps leading to the World of Trains exhibit in the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge. A ramp funded by Materials and Chemistry Laboratory Inc. will be built here later this year. (Submitted photo)
Submitted
Barry Stephenson believes the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge is one of the city’s treasures.
The laboratory he leads, employee-owned Materials & Chemistry Laboratory Inc. (MCLinc), wants to make sure this treasure continues to serve children and families well. MCLinc recently made a $50,000 contribution to fund the final ramp needed to make the interior of the historic Children’s Museum building accessible for strollers and those with disabilities.
The ramp will meet standards of the Americans for Disabilities Act, which describes what is needed for a building to be physically accessible to persons with disabilities. The ramp will connect the Selma Shapiro Wing of the Museum to the next level housing the World of Trains exhibit. [Read more…]
The American Museum of Science and Energy Foundation is having its first art contest.
The competition is open to the public.
The foundation is asking those who enter the contest to make art that represents an element, elements, or the periodic table of elements.
“For example, an artist may draw a representation of the periodic table, sculpt a carbon molecule, paint a neon sign, or create a computer graphic of a blimp full of hydrogen,” the contest instructions said.
[Read more…]
The Tennessee Irish Dancers join Charlie Bear, the Museum mascot, at an earlier International Festival at the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge. (Photo by Rob Welton)
Flamenco, Irish, and Greek dancers will be among entertainers at the International Festival on Saturday, February 26, at the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge.
A special guest from Ireland, musician and singer Fionan Casey, will join the band, The Missing Goats, performing traditional Irish music at the festival, a press release said.
The family-friendly International Festival will present entertainment, crafts, and cuisines from many countries, with musical and dance entertainment on stage throughout the day and crafts for children to make and take home. The festival will be from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, February 26, at the Children’s Museum, which is at 461 West Outer Drive in Oak Ridge. [Read more…]
A celebration of the life of museum founder John Rice Irwin will be held in April at the Museum of Appalachia in Norris. The celebration of life is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. Sunday, April 24.
Irwin was a cultural historian and founder of the Museum of Appalachia, among other notable achievements.
Irwin died Sunday, January 16, in Clinton. He was 91.
He was born on December 11, 1930, in Union County, Tennessee.
“While Irwin was still a toddler, his family was forced to move from their farm to make way for the flooding of Norris Lake and the construction of Norris Dam,” his obituary said. “They first settled in Robertsville (in Oak Ridge), but the Manhattan Project forced them to move yet again, this time to the Bethel Community.”
Irwin’s obituary said he was captivated by the rich cultural history of East Tennessee and its people for as long as he could remember.
“As a young boy, he would sit at the feet of his grandmother, Ibbie Jane Rice, and grandfather, Marcellus Moss ‘Sill’ Rice, and listen intently to their stories of the past,” the obituary said. “Sill took notice of his grandson’s fascination and said to him, ‘you ought to keep the old-timey things that belonged to our people and start you a little museum sometime.’ It was this advice that would ultimately inspire Irwin to create the Museum of Appalachia.”
[Read more…]
Matt Sieger, enjoying his DJ hobby here, will bring 1960s surf rock to the Children’s Museum Gala on Friday, Dec. 3, 2021. (Submitted photo)
Â
“Surf’s Up!†at the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge, where the 20th annual Gala will feature a beach-themed evening with dinner and entertainment and an oceanographer from 6-9:30 p.m. on Friday, December 3.
The event will have a little STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics) mixed in with entertainment by area youth, dinner from Calhoun’s, a costume contest, and auctions. Leslie England, TNBank senior vice president of retail banking and a rock singer with the band Jada Blade, will emcee the event.
The School of Rock’s house band will entertain with beach tunes as guests arrive for the Gala. The Knoxville school offers performance-based music lessons for youth to age 18, and its musicians have performed live at such venues as Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza, as well as local venues including the Tennessee and Bijou Theatres. The band at the Gala will feature youth on guitar, bass, keyboard, drums, and vocals.
The Oak Ridge High School Choral Ensemble will bring back memories with a medley of Beach Boys tunes, including “Surfin’ USA,†“Little Old Lady from Pasadena,†“Kokomo,†“Surf City,†and “Don’t Worry Baby.†[Read more…]
After a long shutdown during the COVID-19 pandemic, the K-25 History Center re-opened Monday morning.
The K-25 History Center is located on the south side of the site where the K-25 Building used to be at what is now Heritage Center in west Oak Ridge. The K-25 Building was once the world’s largest. The K-25 History Center is on the second floor of the City of Oak Ridge fire station at Heritage Center.
The K-25 site was built during World War II, and it enriched uranium for nuclear weapons and commercial nuclear power plants. The site was shut down in the 1980s. The site was built as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project, and it was to help enrich uranium for the world’s first atomic bombs during World War II.
[Read more…]
After a long closure during the COVID-19 pandemic, the American Museum of Science and Energy has re-opened.
AMSE re-opened at 9 a.m. Friday, May 21.
AMSE will be open to a limited number of visitors at a time, 50. Museum visitors will be asked to maintain an appropriate physical distance from others (the general guidance has been to maintain a distance of six feet or more, when possible, from people who live outside your home).
[Read more…]
Scott Jamison, a Children’s Museum volunteer who received the Friend of the Child Award, teaches a summer camp annually in the Museum’s Craft and Science Room. (Submitted photo)
Submitted
When Scott Jamison is teaching children about crime scene investigation or sharing his telecommunications skills at the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge, he arrives with a smile that shows his selflessness and generosity.
Jamison recently received the museum’s annual Friend of the Child Award for volunteering his business and telecommunications skills, as well as his teaching skills, when the staff seeks his help.
“When Scott walks in the door, frequently responding to urgent pleas for help, there is only one desire—and that is to make things work,†said Ronnie Bogard, former museum board member who presented the award to Jamison.
The award is presented in memory of Selma Shapiro, Bogard’s mother and the museum’s executive director for its first 31 years. With her vision and resourcefulness, Shapiro built the museum from a its single-room beginnings to fill a former school building. The award was established to honor an individual who has contributed in a big way to the success of the museum. [Read more…]
Molly McCanta and her University of Tennessee students are analyzing moon rock from NASA’s Apollo 17 mission in 1972. She will discuss this moon science at the Children’s Museum Gala on Friday. (Submitted photo)
Â
Moon science and moonshine will each be featured at the December 4 virtual Gala hosted by the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge. The Gala theme, “MoonShine on the Mountain,†celebrates the region’s mountain heritage with humor, stories, and music, as well as the Museum’s own Rocket Room that encourages play in a space-like setting, a press release said.
Sugarlands Distilling Company, the Gatlinburg-based producer of award-winning moonshine and other spirits, will add its expertise and storytelling to the event, supporting the Gala in a variety of ways.
As for moon science, Molly McCanta will be a guest at the Gala, explaining how she and her University of Tennessee students are analyzing moon rock from NASA’s Apollo 17 mission in 1972. The UT professor is participating in a three-year project with researchers at two other facilities as part of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing in 1969. [Read more…]
