This Saturday, July 1, The Children’s Museum of the Brazos Valley will host its third annual Little Firecrackers in collaboration with The Stella Hotel and Lake Walk. The event takes place from 3 – 6 p.m. at Lake Walk and caters to local families with fun activities for children and museum members.

The Children’s Museum of the Brazos Valley originally opened in Downtown Bryan in 1998 under the leadership of former Texas A&M Professor Dr. Dale Whitaker. The museum experienced a variety of location changes, but has now settled in Lake Walk as of April 2021. Children’s Museum Director of Education, Hannah McCurrin said the collaboration between the museum and the other organizations makes for an exciting community event.

“One thing that makes this a unique event is the cross-collaboration with Lake Walk and the Stella Hotel,” McCurrin said. “The partnership with Lake Walk enables us to more and highlights the location of the hotel and Lake Walk. It helps us serve more members and guests than it would an internal event.”
The museum planned multiple activities for the community to enjoy, as well as a special goodie bag for museum members to take home, McCurrin said.

“There will be numerous event crafts for guests … we’ll have premade paper rockets that kids can decorate and a kid-safe sparkler with info of what goes into a sparkler for museum members,” McCurrin said. “If you’re not already a museum member, there will be an opportunity to become a member at the event. The museum is also focusing on water safety program this month so we’ll have Maya the Manta Ray there to educate the community about the initiatives.”
The organizations have also taken great caution in accounting for the forecasted heat with different safety measures, Estrada said.

“There will be a cool coastal zone sponsored by The Stella Hotel with shade and free water bottles … attendees can also purchase guest passes for The Stella Hotel pool,” Estrada said. “There will be tents at the event and Kona Ice, sponsored by the Children’s Museum, and activities taking place indoors and outdoors.”

Lake Walk Community Coordinator Tristan Estrada said the three organizations have spent hours detailing the event’s logistics.
“We’ve met for over 20 hours in the past month leading up to the event,” McCurrin said. “This is different from other events hosted at Lake Walk because the children’s museum hosts Little Firecrackers, and Lake Walk and the Stella Hotel help support the event.”

An hour after the conclusion of Little Firecrackers, Lake Walk’s bi-weekly Eats and Beats program, a live music concert series on the award-winning pavilion, will kick off at 7 p.m. Estrada said this is an opportunity for attendees to witness the setup of a community favorite event.

“One of the great things about [Little Firecrackers] is guests will be able to see the band set up and the set up of the [Lake Walk Balloon] arch,” Estrada said. “Naturally, the timing of the events go well with each other. The hour in between events allows time for clean up and for the food trucks to come in for Eats and Beats.”
To register for Little Firecrackers in advance, visit their Facebook page. To become a museum member, visit their website. Attendees can also purchase guest passes for The Stella Hotel pool at their website.