By MATT PIKE
With kids out of school on President’s Day, and families looking for something to do, it’s a perfect opportunity to see the Pony Express Museum for free.
The museum will be open to all for free for family day, with several fun events throughout the day, along with tours of the museum.
Executive Director Cindy Daffron says the event has grown over the years from just doing an obstacle course, to now owning to event center which provides a unique experience
“That thing is going to take you 2000 miles, you’ll start right out as if you were in St. Joseph at the stables and travel all through those eight states, but there’s a few encounters along the way, you might find a snake, might do this, might find a horse,” Daffron says on the KFEQmunnity show. “But what it does it allows the families, the Missouri Division of Tourism and Humanities Council gave us money to make it easier for people to go through.”
“So before the kids went and you couldn’t catch them, so now the families go through and get to learn, and up on the stage is full of animals so if you’ve got young children there is something in there for everyone.”
Daffron says the fun starts bright and early with a biscuits and gravy breakfast
“We want to act like we’re Buffalo Bill, so we’ll have a table and you can come from 8am to 10am and have a little biscuits and gravy, a little Sunny D and a coffee, and just enjoy fellowshipping like people would back in the day” Daffron explains.
“We know a young boy that traveled all the way from Nebraska three years ago when I said we’re doing biscuits and gravy, and he heard it on Spotify and his grandpa said well you know that’s like three hours away and he like I don’t care grandpa I’ve never had biscuits and gravy and I wanna go, I wanna go, he said well you’ll have to get up early, early, and he said well that’s fine, so he walks in and then he left learning.”
Other events throughout the day include kids learning how to rope like cowboys, quilting, and making buttons. Lunch will also be provided.
Daffron says also during the program, the museum will host some kickoff events for the Day Camp that takes place in the summer
“We’re gonna do things like make a necklace, so they feel like they’ve kind of started camp in some way, well maybe I want to go,” Daffron says. “And we find out a lot of kids are like oh yeah my friend went now I know what it is, well then they get an application, so people get to do that.”
Applications will be available on the day for people to sign their children up for day camp if interested. The museum will be open from 9am to 4pm.
For more information on Family Day, you can visit the Pony Express Museum’s website.
You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.
