In order to prepare for opening day, February 12, 2000, Memorial needed to execute much of the Marketing Action Plan. By late December 1999 Memorial had already enacted some of the plan while the museum was being assembled. However, they needed to focus on the grand opening and generate community awareness. They started to build enthusiasm for the project within the community by writing and releasing information about the project. Several of the press releases and other promotional information were beginning to circulate throughout the Michiana region.

The HealthWorks! Kids Museum logo had been incorporated into several marketing pieces including: note cards, letterhead, envelopes, business cards and other communication pieces. The brochure and other community-oriented marketing pieces were also completed during this period.

Memorial also believed that creating a web site would be an important way of continuing the connection to children, their teachers and parents - "extending the HealthWorks! Experience!." To that end they developed the plans for the web site which included the following: to provide useful, clear and inviting information to the three primary target groups: kids, parents, educators; to build awareness about HealthWorks! And prompt calls for: sponsorship, memberships, visits, and volunteers; to provide additional recognition and thanks to donors; to provide health information that is easy to locate; to offer direct access for post-visit feedback from children and/or educators; to excite and entertain children with pre- and post- visit on-line activities; to assist educators with last minute field trip details; to help educators understand the worthwhile educational value of a visit. You can visit the current version of that web-site, right now, at www.qualityoflife.org/healthworks.htm.

Memorial decided that opening day would need to be fun and exciting! They contracted nationally known television personality, Bill Nye, The Science Guy, as the keynote speaker. In mid-December, Memorial announced an essay contest with the first place winners, their teacher and parents winning a lunch with Bill Nye. The contest required children ages 5-12, living in the Michiana region, to write an original 300-word essay addressing their "plan to live 100 healthy years." Below are a few of the wonderful essays Memorial received.

Derrick Brewer, Age 5

My Plan to Live 100 Healthy Years!

I have a friend that is old and his name is Russell. He is 94 years old. He likes flowers a lot. He has gobs of pretty flowers in his yard. He spends lots of time in his flower gardens. He shares his flowers with us. He cuts up all his own firewood. He gets lots of exercise and breathes lots of fresh air when he's outside in his flower gardens and cutting up his wood. Russell eats strawberries and blueberries and rhubarb and not very much candy. We go berry picking with him. Russell is nice. He does nice things for other people. He gave me a rock that was his when he was a baby. I like the rock. I like Russell. When I get old, I hope I'm just like Russell. Being outside and getting lots of exercise and eating good things and being nice will help me be like Russell. My dog is up in Heaven. He name is Toby and I still love him very much. He lived to be 16 years old. He was outside and got lots of exercise and ate good food and was very nice too.

Taylor Leigh Marks, Age 8

My Plan to Live 100 Healthy Years

I would start now, at 8 years old. I'll eat healthier, I would plan my daily diet which would include raw carrots and lots of soups. I would have a black dog to keep me safe. Having a dog lowers your blood pressure. I would take my dog for walks which would help both of us because my dog and I would get plenty of exercise. I would collect my own herbs and spices to make tea. I would have a goat so that I could drink goat's milk. I would have a cottage by the woods away from the city pollution. On rainy days I would sit in my cottage and read books to keep my mind healthy. I would go to church to keep my spirit healthy. I would choose not to smoke and not be around people that did. I would make beautiful necklaces out of vines and things that I found in the woods. These are the things I would do to live 100 healthy years.

The early marketing efforts, including the South Bend Tribune coverage, and the immense popularity of Bill Nye were all factors that contributed to the huge turn-out of people for the grand opening of HealthWorks! A small "crisis" situation developed when 2300 people arrived and there were only seat planned for about 1000. In fact, the Century Center (the facility where Bill Nye appeared) was filled to capacity and additional rooms were also filled for the "real-time" video broadcast of the presentation. With additional people wanting to see Bill Nye, he agreed to shorten his first presentation and add a second to the plan. This enabled us to give everyone who came to Century Center an opportunity to hear Bill Nye. We did not anticipate the large numbers of people who turned out at HealthWorks!. HealthWorks! staff responded extremely well to this "crisis" situation by adapting quickly to meet the needs of the day. Overall, grand-opening day was a big success.

The media attention for this event was fabulous and helped general a great deal of interest and enthusiasm for HealthWorks! An article appeared in the South Bend Tribune on Sunday, February 13, 2000 that featured Bill Nye and HealthWorks! In addition, USA Today's web-site featured an article titled, "Museum takes kids-eye view of health" on February 14, 2000. These were both a boost for opening day.

The first week HealthWorks! was open for school groups and the general public, the week following grand-opening, was very calm in comparison. Many of the technological and exhibit issues were resolved and the "test run" gave staff and technical personnel the opportunity to see how things would actually operate. According to Becky Williams, HealthWorks! Educator, "It was actually very good that this crisis occurred. It gave us an opportunity to pull together and showed us the potential for HW! It made opening day seem like a piece of cake!"

The time, energy and resources spent creating HealthWorks! would only be a prelude to the adventure that was about to begin. The vessel was complete and had set sail but the journey was only just beginning.