Friday, July 25, 2014

Groovin' and Grubbin' at the Garden State Discovery Museum



Daily Vacationer was excited to finally make it out to the Garden State Discovery Museum's Groovin' and Grubbin' event this week.  We love any opportunity to visit this fantastic children's museum in Cherry Hill, NJ, and we knew that this time there would also be gourmet food trucks involved in the trip (plus we have been hearing some rumors on how amazing the selection has been!).  Groovin' and Grubbin' is a FREE event every Wednesday night until the end of August in the Discovery Museum's front parking lot.  Expect live entertainment, delicious food (bring cash for the food trucks!), and lots of fun.  Not only was My Gym there with a bounce house, but the museum was only $5 per person throughout the entire event (extended hours Mondays thru Thursdays during July and August are $5 after 5pm!).  We highly recommend a visit inside. (Read here for why we think this place is so awesome).
 
We had a great time at this event - although we did have one complaint: way too many incredible food choices!  We wanted to try it all!  For our dinner selections we had the option of ordering from Pbon Fresh Phood Philly, Surf and Turf, and Mary's Mobile Diner.  After going back and forth (and getting recommendations from people who had been there before), we finally went with the BLT Lobster Roll from Surf and Turf and the Stuffed Meatball Parmesan from Mary's Mobile Diner - delicious!!  For dessert there was Cupcakes2GoGo (South Jersey's first cupcake truck, which we have been trying to catch all summer!) and UNDRGRND DONUTS.  There was no dilemma about which truck we would order from - obviously we had to try both.  The Old-Fashioned Chocolate Cupcake and the Camping Out Donut were the right decisions.
 
The event is set up with plenty of entertainment to keep kids occupied the entire evening. Each table is set with a giant sheet of paper and cups of crayons.  We examined our table and saw the previous diners ranged from early doodles to pretty talented artists.  (A bold statement of "I Want a Lobster Roll!" scrawled across the paper made us glad we had ordered one for ourselves.)  The bounce house was going all evening at one end, while face painting was happening between 5pm and 7pm at the other end.  A friendly woman with a guitar was encouraging kids to come up to the microphone in the concert area to sing a favorite of theirs  There were many, many renditions of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and ABC's - which happen to have the same tune - along with a more difficult song about dinosaurs and a hesitant version of "Let It Go".  In between the little performers' songs, fun and family friendly music filled the air, causing more than one visitor to break out into a dance.
 
At 7pm everyone gathered on haybales in front of the main stage to see that night's live show.  Usually for Groovin' and Grubbin', the entertainment involves a concert, but we were thrilled to find out that we were going to be seeing a performance of RaPUNzel from the Discovery Theater.  Not your average telling of the fairy tale, poor Rapunzel doesn't care as much about true love as she does about telling the best jokes (to the frustration of the prince who thinks her corny puns are wonderful and her "mother" the witch who actually wants to marry her off to royalty).  In addition to the usual tower, the show also takes the characters to Pyrate Pete's Comedy Cavern Tavern where volunteers from the crowd (who signed up ahead of time) are encouraged to take the mic and deliver their own joke.  It's fast-paced, creative, and funny - entertaining both the children and the adults in the audience.  We were especially impressed with the quick costume changes as every role except Rapunzel is played by the same person!
 
The fun continues at next week's Groovin' and Grubbin' with more food trucks and a FREE live concert from Sara O'Brien and the Community Rocks Kids.  $5 after 5pm continues through the end of August, and you can catch the Discovery Theater's next show, The Frog Princess, starting August 5th. 

 
 
 
 
 
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2 comments:

  1. we had so much fun the day we went! We want to go back ASAP!

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  2. Looks like a blast. We still have to get there for this! We love the museum!

    ReplyDelete