Noon Years Eve Brings Family Fun to Great River Children’s Museum

ST. CLOUD (WJON News) -- Area kids don't have to stay up until midnight to have some New Year's fun on Wednesday. The Great River Children's Museum in St. Cloud is holding its Noon Year's Eve from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. The event will have games, crafts, music, and its own giant ball drop.

Experience and Community Engagement Director Dave Kaczor says Noon Year's Eve will be an exciting time and a great example of the type of event the Children's Museum can do:

"This version of Noon Year's Eve will be specifically ours. It will have some Central Minnesota themes, some St. Cloud themes, and so we're really creating something that is for St. Cloud and for Central Minnesota, and again we're really looking forward to it."

He says there are some culturally themed activities as well, and the museum believes that play is a powerful way for kids to learn.

Kaczor says kids will have loads of fun and not even realize they are learning along the way:

"Play is powerful! Play connects people. Play helps us learn, and really, we want the museum to be a place that the community can come and enjoy and be together and learn together and grow together, so we'd love to see you at the museum, and we've got a lot of fun stuff cooking, and we can't wait for 2026."

Kaczor says they try to inject playfulness into everything the museum does, and the possibilities for fun events like Noon Year's Eve are endless. Noon Year's Eve costs $14 to attend for the general public but is free for Great River Children's Museum members.