The Children's Museum (tcmupstate.org)
GREENVILLE
Tuesday-Saturday 9AM-5PM
Sunday 11AM-5PM
Closed Mondays
Join us for the Wheels on the Ground GRAND OPENING on Saturday, June 4th. Reserve tickets today!
Advance timed-entry ticketing is required to visit TCMU-Greenville. Timed entry available every half hour and the length of your visit will not be timed. Only ticket-holders are guaranteed entry.
Grand opening June 4, including state of the art racecar pit-crew experience, model car test tracks and life-size bus
GREENVILLE, S.C. (May 16, 2022) —
The Children’s Museum of the Upstate-Greenville (TCMU) is excited to announce the
grand opening of its new exhibit, Wheels on the Ground, on Saturday, June 4.
The Wheels on the Ground exhibit will be one of the focal exhibits on the museum’s main floor–occupying 2,000 square feet
and introducing children and families to the exciting concepts of the racing and automotive industry. The exhibit will feature
a fully interactive pit crew station, where children and families can race against the clock to change car tires, add gas to the
fuel tank and other activities that resemble a real pit-crew experience. Throughout the entire exhibit, families will encounter
various stations designed for building model cars, testing different built racetracks and learning the physics of automobiles.
Children will also be able to repair an engine through different prompts such as using a wrench to tighten bolts or turning a
crank to move pistons.
Additionally, Wheels on the Ground will explore the different components of electric versus fuel engines, and how these
different types of vehicles affect the environment. The exhibit will also feature a life-size bus, similar to the buses seen in
Downtown Greenville. Children will be invited to climb into the bus, sit on the seats and pretend they are riding to their next
destination.
With such a significant automotive industry presence in the Upstate, TCMU hopes the exhibit will not only facilitate hands-on
learning through play, but also ignite curiosity in children about the many careers within the field. Specifically, a section of
the exhibit displays various career paths that a child could one day explore–from a city planner to a car mechanic, to a bus
driver or motor sports announcer.
“Reflecting the larger community within our museum walls is incredibly important, and the automotive industry is such a
critical part of the Upstate” said Lauren Luneckas, TCMU’s executive director. “Thanks to the generosity of our committed
sponsors, the young learners visiting TCMU will have the chance to learn more about automobiles and transportation in an
entirely new space that is incredibly educational, fun, and interactive.”
The exhibit is generously sponsored by the South Carolina Department of Education, Duke Energy, The William Bradshaw
Family, ScanSource, F.W. Symmes Foundation, Jolly Foundation, Gaye Sprague in honor of Shelly Dezen, and Upstate SC
Alliance Educational Foundation. Specifically, Annette Bradshaw notes of her family’s support of the exhibit, “Supporting the
Wheels on the Ground exhibit for TCMU is an exciting opportunity to engage our little learners with an industry that impacts
the Upstate in a unique way. Not only are they learning and growing, but they are having fun along the way.”
Wheels on the Ground was designed and fabricated in partnership with Kraemer Design + Production, Inc., an attraction
design company based in Cincinnati, Ohio. This is the second of two significant exhibit renovations in 2022 for the museum’s
Greenville location, both of which further reinforce TCMU as a premiere destination for families across the Southeast.
Wheels on the Ground will officially open to the public at 9 a.m on Saturday, June 4. The museum will host Media Previews on
June 1 and 2 from 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. For any media interested in attending these Media Previews, or for any other questions,
please contact Jessie Cappello, manager of marketing and communications, at jcappello@tcmupstate.org or 864-553-7900.
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About The Children’s Museum of the Upstate
As the nation's first children's museum to become a Smithsonian Affiliate, TCMU offers new and exciting exhibits and
programs developed to ignite a community of compassionate
