Good News Fridays: Birmingham’s McWane Science Center Celebrates Its 20th Birthday

By Nathan Young on July 13, 2018

UPDATE: This post is from Alabama NewsCenter.

McWane Science Center in downtown Birmingham plans a two-day birthday bash this weekend, July 14-15, to celebrate its 20^thbirthday.

McWane opened its doors to the public on July 11, 1998, and more than 10,000 people showed up to the grand opening. The center had been years in the planning.

In 1985, Birmingham Mayor Richard Arrington and the City of Birmingham began working with Red Mountain Museum and Discovery Place on a dream to build a science center. Six years later, Red Mountain Museum and the Discovery Place merged and became the Birmingham Science Museum. That same year, the city leased the former Loveman’s building to the science museum.

In 1992, the Science Center became Discovery 200 Inc., and five years later was renamed McWane Center to honor the support from Birmingham’s McWane family.

In the 20 years since the center opened, it has expanded, added exhibits and classrooms and opened the Itty Bitty Magic City Birmingham Children’s Museum for kindergartners and younger, and welcomed millions of visitors.

Schedule for this weekend:

Saturday

Programs:

20 years of Science Trivia — 1:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. (Rushton Theater)
Science of Magic — 12:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. (Demonstration Station)
LED Birthday Cards — 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. (Classroom 301)
Art & Science — 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. (Classroom 302)
Introducing LEGO Robotics 2.0 — Noon and 4 p.m. (Classroom 303)
Ozobot McWane Scavenger Hunt — 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. (Workshop)
Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream — 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.(Workshop)
Building the Next 20 Years — 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. (IBMC)
Huff and Puff Little Lab — 10:30 a.m. (IBMC)
Boat Design Challenge — Noon and 2 p.m. (IBMC)

Activities (10 a.m. to 4 p.m.):

Face Painting — (Explore Lab, Level 2)
Music — Plaza
Tattoos — Plaza
Inflatables — Plaza
Birthday Cake — (Events Center, Level 3)
Rock Wall — Plaza
Exploding Birthday Balloons — 3 p.m. (Plaza)

Sunday

Programs (Times are the same as Saturday’s):
20 Years of Science Trivia — (Rushton Theater)
Science of Magic — (Demonstration Station)
LED Birthday Cards — (Classroom 301)
Art & Science — (Classroom 302)
Introducing LEGO Robotics 2.0 — (Classroom 303)
Ozobot McWane Scavenger Hunt — (Workshop)
Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream — (Workshop)
Ancient Alabama — (NatureScope)
Building the Next 20 Years — (IBMC)
Huff and Puff Little Lab — (IBMC)
Boat Design Challenge — (IBMC)

Activities:
Activities: Noon to 4 p.m.
Face Painting — (Explore Lab, Level 2)
Music — Plaza
Tattoos — Plaza
Inflatables — Plaza
Birthday Cake — (Events Center, Level 3)
Rock Wall — Plaza
Exploding Birthday Balloons — 1:30 p.m. (Plaza)

Community Partner Programming and Activities:

Mountain High Outfitters Rock Wall on The Plaza.
Character visits from Vulcan Park and Museum, Babe Ruff from Birmingham Barons, and McWane and PNC’s Vocabby.
The Three Musketeers performed by Red Mountain Theatre Company.
Imagination Playground Build-a-Thon in Itty Bitty Magic City.
UAB – The University of Alabama at Birmingham Neuroscience Department Dissection.
Virtual Reality and Kinetic stations from GameStop.
Balloon Explosion presented by H2 Real Estate.

Standard general admission is $13 for adults and $9 for children (2-12). For more information about McWane Science Center, visit www.mcwane.org. Also, check out McWane’s “20 Years of Science” timeline at www.mcwane.org/timeline.

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