Discovery Center Sets Single Day Attendance Record

The Kansas Children’s Discovery Center announced today the museum set a single-day attendance record yesterday, on March, 17, 2022, with a total of 1,152 visitors. The previous single-day attendance record was set on June 20, 2019.

A number of factors contributed to the record-breaking attendance. The museum is one of the three major Topeka Dino Days venues and is hosting the Tiny Titans: Dinosaur Eggs and Babies exhibition from Feb. 24 to May 30, 2022.

Tiny Titans is sponsored by Visit Topeka and the Topeka Lodging Association and has been a major attraction for regional spring break visitors. Tiny Titans is a hands-on exhibition offering an array of authentic dinosaur eggs and nests collected from all across the globe, in addition to interactive play experiences.

March 17 was also a free admission night after 5 p.m., and nearly 500 visitors were able to play free of charge with admission sponsored by Advisors Excel. The museum offers free nights monthly on the third Thursday of each month, sponsored by generous local businesses. Since 2019, Advisors Excel has sponsored 12 free admission events, providing free museum admission for more than 3,500 attendees.

The nonprofit children’s museum opened in 2011, and in the past decade has grown significantly, gaining prominence as a regional tourist attraction and community anchor for families. The museum has hosted six major traveling exhibitions. Access Discovery Programs, which ensure museum access for all children, now account for more than 10 percent of admissions, and thousands more children are served in community outreach events. Since opening in 2011, the museum has hosted more than 770,000 visitors from all 50 states and 23 countries. The COVID-19 pandemic presented significant challenges to the privately funded museum, which lost 93 percent of projected admission and membership income in 2020. Despite the losses, the museum served families throughout the pandemic and reopened successfully.

President/CEO Dené Mosier has led the museum since 2015.