Play Day In The Park with Magic House and Spire

BJ Holiday talk with Beth Fitzgerald President of Majic House and Jessica Willingham Senior VP and Chief Communications and Marketing Officer for Spire about the upcoming Play Day in the Park to be held in Forest Park. The event is being held to attempt to get children out of the house to play and celebrate National Children's Day.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Heart feet St. Louis aka PIholiday, bringing you the fulse of the
city. Hey, what's up?This is DJ dj ak a BJ holiday
and of course to day on theshow Man, I have the privilege to
honor and it's just such a blessingto have this particular young lady in my

(00:22):
studio. I've heard of the MagicHouse for so many years, had an
opportunity to actually go to the MagicHouse. And you know what, today
I get to talk to the presidentof the Magic House and that's none other
day. Beth Fitzgerald, how areyou doing today? Doing great? Thank
you so much for having us.Oh no, it is such a pleasure.

(00:45):
And also I have in the studiomy good friends that's always helped me
out with community events. And youknow what, you guys, I don't
care what y'all do. If you'resitting in your car, please give them
a big round of applause for everythingthat they do in the community. There's
none other than my girl, JessicaWillingham from Spire. She's the senior vice

(01:07):
president of Marketing and Communication. Howyou doing today, doing great? Thank
you so much for having us.Did you hear that round of applause?
I felt it. You know,people were like, all right, so
magic house. Let's talk about themagic house, because you know, people

(01:29):
hear about the magic house, buta lot of people really don't know what
the magic house is. I mean, because you know, let's just talk
about it. Because I was gonnasay, you know, I was going
to spill the beans, but said, I'm gonna let you do it,
all right, So Beth tell meall about the magic house. So the
Magic House is Saint Louis Children's Museum. We have about fifty five thousand square

(01:53):
feet of space all designed for playand learning and to get children really excited
about what they want to learn.So we have lots of fun activities and
programs and events throughout the year aswell. We also have a second location.
Our first location is in Kirkwood andhas been opened for forty three years,
and four years ago we opened asite made for kids in the city

(02:15):
of Saint Louis on Delmar, twoblocks west of King's Highway. So we
have two great locations where where familiescan come and play and explore together.
Now let's you said that you guyshave programs, avelable you know four kids.
Can you just mention a few ofthose programs that they have that you
know, the ones that you knowthat I did live when I come.

(02:38):
Yeah. Absolutely, Well. Wehave Summer Camp that starts next week,
so all summer long children can comeand spend a week with us at the
Magic House and learn about all differentkinds of things. We have art camp,
science Camp, and World Traveler Camp, so you can learn about all
different parts of the world. Butthis past weekend we opened one of our
favorite events, Sandcastle Beach. Webring in tons and tons and tons of

(03:01):
sand fill a back area of thegarden with all of that sand, plus
we bring in a world renowned sandsculptor, Dan Belcher, who grew up
in Saint Louis, and he carvesa ginormous sand castle and the kids can
build along with him. So that'sgoing to be here through July fourth.

(03:21):
But it's really like being at thebeach. We have sand that you can
dig with lots of shells that youcan find, misters for the moms,
and and aarondeck chairs he can justparents can just relax under an umbrella and
enjoy the day. Oh my god, wow wow. Okay, So the
Magic House, what time are youguys, open. We are open our

(03:44):
summer hours started. Normally we haveschool groups visiting us during the morning,
but during the summer we have extendedhours. So we're open nine thirty to
five Monday through Saturday, and onSunday ten thirty to five. Now,
I know that people are very interestingin the Magic House, but I have
to bring this up before we giveout, Like you know websites and all

(04:05):
of that stuff. You guys havea major event coming up. We do,
we do. We're super excited.It's a collaborative project that we're doing
with about twenty five different other notfor profits focused on youth and education.
It's called Playday in the Park.It's going to be just a super fun
day for families to come out toSteinberg Rink and Forest Park spend an afternoon.

(04:30):
We are going to be open therefrom ten to two, but lots
of fun things to do to sparkthe interest in children. Great way to
kick off this summer. And it'sall free, so there's free roller skating.
We're going to have the Bubble Bus. They're playing lots of fun music
and just lots and lots of bubblesfor children to chase and dance with.
The Magic House is going to bethere with a lot of our activities that

(04:51):
we're going to be bringing out GirlScouts, The Boy Scouts, Girls Inc.
Is bringing out a putting green sochildren who have never had a chance
to play golf can do that.The Missouri Department of Conservation is going to
be having fishing, so all thesethings that children have maybe read about or
seen in movies that they've never hada chance to try, they can come
out and do that all for free. Now, one of the things that

(05:13):
we talked about prior to the interview, you said one of the reasons why
you guys was doing this was totry to get kids off the screens,
meaning that you know a lot oftimes when you see kids these days,
they're looking at this thing on thescreen, meaning like a phone, tablet,
computer. Why was it so importantfor you guys to create this playday

(05:33):
at the part Well Children's Museum acrossthe country are devoted to play and learning
through play, and I think wesaw during the pandemic, especially children spending
so much time in front of screens. And the American Academy of Pediatric has
come out with a warning to pearancethe average child in the United States today
is spending seven hours in front ofscreens and that's non active play. So

(05:57):
just for healthy child development physically,cognitively, emotionally, it's just really not
good for kids to be sitting infront of a screen, isolated by themselves.
So we want to bring back traditionalplay. We want children to come
out play together, just like theydo at the Magic House. And this
be a community wide effort to bringtogether all the not for profits in Saint

(06:19):
Louis that are committed to families andplay with one singular message to parents,
make sure your children have a chanceto play this summer. Now. One
of the things about them going outand play it is good for the health
because we have a lot of obesityin our country as well, and it's
because the lack of movement, exactly, the lack of movement. And one

(06:42):
of the one of the things thatI wanted to bring up as well is
that our good friends over Expired isone of your sponsors for this, So,
Jessica, why why was it importantfor spire to get him involved with
an event like this. Well,actually, I'm going to tell you how
we created the event. I havethe privilege of managing all of the philanthropy

(07:05):
programs for Spire. We're very involvedin the community, and you know that
we've done a lot of day forgood volunteering our time. Every Spire employee
has eight hours of paid time offto go and volunteer in the community,
and they use it all up.And I do too. So I've actually
served on the board for Forest ParkForever, also on the Girl Scouts of

(07:25):
Eastern Missouri and the Magic House,and so We're all having the same conversations
about families and about children and aboutplay and I'm hearing them from three different
places, and I said, weall need to get together. So we
came together and Beth brought the ideaof having play Day in the Park,
and we all said that we're in. So Spire's very happy to be the

(07:46):
only sponsor for this inaugural event andwe hope it catches on and we can
do it again and again. Okay, now when we talk about this event,
what are some of the exciting thingsthat you're looking for to be in
a part of Well, I'm lookingforward to seeing all these amazing organizations everyone
that Beth talked about, but alsothe Muni, the Saint Louis Art Museum,

(08:09):
Disabled Athlete Sports Association. We haveso many different activities to see everybody
out there providing free activities for childrenand their families to just play. I
cannot wait to be part of it. I am volunteering the entire day.
Okay, Now, as we keeptalking about this day, when is the
day? June tenth, Saturday,June tenth, and it's in celebration of

(08:33):
National Children's Day and also, believeit or not, it's also also National
Get Outdoors Day. Really and onemore, it's my daughter's birthday. Okay,
we what is your daughter's name?Emily, Emily, Emily, Happy
Birthday teams out on the radio.So that's worth having. I mean,

(08:58):
all these things that are coming upJune tenth over in forest Park, Steinberg,
Yes, Steinberg Rink. Now,you did say something about free roller
skating, Yes, free roller skating. Okay, So if I bought my
bike out that day, would Ibe able to go on the trail of
yeah, for me to ride aroundin that area. No, yeah,
we absolutely. We're having signs postedfor the bikers because we know they're going

(09:20):
to be there, but we wanteverybody to be involved, so certainly bike
over we're gonna have free parking.There's parking lot right next to Steinberg as
while a street parking close by.Right now, let's talk a little bit
more about Spire while we're having aconversation as well. SPI do so many
things in our community. Can youtalk about some of the other great things

(09:41):
that you guys do in the communityas well. Oh my goodness, Um,
let's see. We just help toreally renovate the National Transportation Museum and
that was all of our field employeesover there building, sawing, nailing hammers,
the works, and that's been areal treat. Of course, Forest
Park, we've been helping to connectall the waterways in the park so that

(10:05):
the park is not actually using citywater that has to keep going in.
It's now a recirculating system and Ithink that's getting closed up later this year,
but we're very proud to be partof that. And of course with
the Girl Scouts of Eastern Missouri,we've got our lots of our employees out
at volunteer at Camp Fiddle Creek andwe clear trails and make sure it's safe

(10:26):
for the kids. All right.Well, one of the things that you
guys do over here at iHeart it'san event that we've started a couple of
years ago. It's called Win Wina Riz Kids. Well, we go
and we get new coats and gloves, scarfs and hats for children in the
community and we just had one bigday. Well we give these amazing coats

(10:46):
out and that's because Spire does ahuge donation to make that happen. So
I just wanted to take time tothank you guys once again for helping us
out with our event. But backto the regularly scheduled program, back to
the Magic House. Inspire having theplay Day at the Park over in Forest
Park June tenth. So will therebe food to anything there as well.

(11:09):
Yeah, we're gonna have food trucksand the concession stand that serves the rink
every day will be open, soit's going to be exciting food choices there.
But we're also encouraging families to picnic. So many times families say they're
gonna go picnic and children want apicnic, but you know it's hard to
get that time. This is theperfect place to bring a picnic lunch.

(11:31):
There's lots of picnic tables in thepark. Just have a lovely day in
the park. We're so grateful toour partners, Forest Park Forever and Girl
Scouts of Eastern Missouri who are joiningus that day to put this all together.
It's been a year of planning andwe're so excited to be able to
share it with a community. Well, June tenth look like it's probably going

(11:52):
to be a perfect day to beout in the park anyway, so I'm
looking forward to it as well.If people want to get more information,
is there a website, social mediaor anything like that that people can get
the information? Yes, absolutely thereis. You can go to the Magic
House website slash play Day in thePark and everything will come up that you

(12:13):
need to know. We also havesocial media, as you said, you
can look for us under Facebook events. Okay, lay Day in the Park
cool. So, Jessica, Iknow that Spire always trying to help out
the community. Do you have anyinformation or any phone numbers or maybe website
where people can go if they needany type of assistance and get a look

(12:35):
at some of the things that Aspiredoing the community as well. Yeah.
Our website is Spire Energy dot com. And also you know we're very connected
with the United Way here in EasternMissouri, and anybody that needs help for
anything. Like you said, allthey have to do is call two one
one for any kind of needs thatthey have to one one, yeah,

(12:58):
the easy number two. Remember.All right, So play Day in the
Park going down, uh Saturday,June tenth, and the Magic House is
going to be their Beth, Iam just so elated and I am talking
to the president of the Magic House. It's pretty good. I am elated
to being with you. Wait waittill I go home and talk to my

(13:22):
wife. Guess who I talk toyou? Now? I play Day in
the Park with far As Park.And what time does it start again?
Ten am to two pm. Guy'sgoing to have food truck. But most
importantly, you guys are asking peopleto bring the picnic basket and have a
picnic in the park. You're goingto have major activities out there. And

(13:46):
once again, if people want towebsite or social media where they can find
information about this event, where canthey go Magic House dot org slash play
Day in the Park. Yeah,alrighty Well, anyway, Beth from the
Magic House and of course Jessica forspar wanted to thank both of you for
coming in the studio today and talkingabout this fabulous event because I do believe

(14:09):
that there's just time for kids toget back out and uh, you know,
start to play again. As amatter of fact, you know,
I think parents need to get outand play, you know, because you
know, we're moving so fast inthis world. I think you know,
like me, I'm just a bigkid kid, you know, so you
need to come now. Let mesay this, see see see see,

(14:37):
here's the deal, Beth. Iam a skater, okay, I mean
like a for real Oh my god, I'm for real. Sorry told us
this because we need somebody to beout there with the kids that day.
I can skate now, I canskate, and you know, like I
said, I'll make sure that I'llcall about some time and stop on.

(14:58):
Okay, no, no, thankyou, guys. This is awesome.
Kids need to play, get offthe screens and you know, go outside.
That's what my parents used to tellme. Go outside. That's right
right outside, and then about tryingto come back in. It ain't time
to come back here exactly. Playin the park going down June tenth over

(15:20):
Forest Park with the Magic House andthe course. Are good friends over inspired
make sure you stop on buy itis a free event. Uh they're gonna
have food trucks on him, butyou can bring a lunch and have a
picnic. Going to be one great, big, happy event that the family
can get involved in. So onceagain, thank you guys for coming into
the studio. Thank you, thankyou, thank you. This has been

(15:43):
another edition of Heartbeat Saint Louis withAKA a PG Holiday, bringing you to
the pulse of the city.