Wendy Keller Executive Director

CELEBRATING A GIANT LEAP

Since 2013, we have taken significant steps toward creating a children’s museum in North Dakota. Our public-private partnership with the City of Minot and Minot Park District, together with generous support from regional businesses, foundations and individuals, expressed the enthusiastic desire to bring the Magic City Discovery Center to our region. In fall 2020, the Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation and Department of Defense awarded us a $6.3 million grant, adding a giant leap to our steady steps!

ESTABLISHING A FIRM FOUNDATION

The dream of a discovery center - hybrid children's museum/science center, began in a brainstorming session about community and regional needs. The spark of an idea ignited a fire of enthusiasm in a small group of passionate volunteers who worked tirelessly to successfully organize and operate the Magic City Discovery Center in an interim location for four winters, drawing over 20,000 visitors. By the end of those four years, our visitors had spoken! They wanted an innovative and permanent discovery center.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Construction begins this spring and this spectacular building will be complete by the end of 2022! With help from donors to our new Launch Campaign, funding the behind-the-scenes costs (furnishings, staff, computers . . . everything down to the garbage cans), we will open the doors to you! You don’t have to wait until then to experience the STEAM-based learning opportunities of this children’s discovery museum. Currently we offer Discovery on the Go!, an outreach program able to bring engaging STEAM education directly to you in your school or community. Reach out to us, then watch for the Magic City Discovery Center trailer coming to your area soon!

A MESSAGE FROM THE MCDC BOARD PRESIDENT

Karen Rasmusson Board President

I have had the great pleasure of working with the Magic City Discovery Center since its inception seven years ago. From a part-time 2,000 sq ft simple beginning at the Dakota Territory Air Museum to plans for a three-level structure, it has been quite a ride! This May we will break ground on North Hill with the goal of opening in the fall of 2022. There were times during the pandemic our board searched for other possibilities to move forward. With the DCIP Grant award of $6.3 million last year, we were not only able to proceed with our plans on North Hill, but we will be able to add exhibits to the lower level. During that time our project has grown from a $7 million project to a $14 million project as we have obtained the funds to work towards a complete Discovery Center. Our board has been frugal and conscientious regarding spending our contributors’ dollars and at each stage of the planning has made hard decisions as to where the money will be spent. The MCDC deferred some projects to a later time frame and some projects were cancelled due to budget constraints.

In the past three weeks, the MCDC was presented with an opportunity to potentially obtain funds from the North Dakota State Legislature from carryover funds from the 2019-2021 biennium. Senator Randy Burckhard has presented an amendment for $5.9 million. These funds would allow us to complete a rooftop science area, outdoor exhibits and cutting-edge technology. We would also use the funds for future programming, additional ADA compliant exhibit areas and COVID related items such as sanitizing stations and extra manipulatives.

The Magic City Discovery Center will be the best discovery center, not only in North Dakota but the Upper Midwest! Our 37-foot superstructure climber will be as tall as the climbers at the children museums in Chicago and Phoenix! The Magic Climber is an interactive structure representing slices of North Dakota from our prairie dog burrows to the B-52 in the sky. There are 12 exhibit galleries and 150 STEAM based exhibits. The MCDC is very excited to announce that we will have the only Smithsonian Spark!Lab Invention Center in the region and only 1 of 10 in the nation. MCDC will be an educational hub for the region and will bring an estimated 70,000 to 100,000 visitors per year. Thank you to all our supporters and a shout out to our future contributors. As Ben Franklin stated “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.”

Karen Rasmusson

CAPITAL CAMPAIGN

CO-CHAIRS' MESSAGE

{Randy Burckhard & Kathy Aas}

{Karen Krebsbach & Kathleen Gaddie}

"It has been gratifying to see the hard work to raise funds for our new building bring this project from a dream to reality. The Magic City Discovery Center will engage and captivate children’s interest as they learn and develop new skills while having fun. STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math) learning is essential for the success of our children, state and country. The Magic City Discovery Center is the best large-scale endeavor for children in decades and will continue to be a treasure for our entire state for many years to come. It is a community-focused asset that we invite you to support. We are proud to be a part of this wonderful enhancement for our community, our families, and, especially, our children."