Saturday, March 31 was an Art Venture opening day at Taubman. It was free admission to the Museum and Art Venture. The Ribbon Cutting was at 10 a.m. My son, Jerry, and I arrived there at that time.

When we walked in the door, a photographer looked at me and said, “I would like to take your picture in front of the dinosaurs.” I told Jerry to stand beside me for a picture. I dressed as an Easter pink bunny. I had bunny ears on my head, and a giant bunny craft (It was made by one of my residents named Mrs. Parks.) hung in front of my neck. Jerry had an American eagle tie on his Special Olympics Virginia shirt. He looked handsome. Suddenly, I saw Mayor Bowers. He said, “Annie, let’s take a picture.” We stood in front of dinosaurs and horse. Then, Jerry and I went around the booths. There were 3D printers in action, and we discovered how it was used in art, architecture, and engineering. Demonstrations were led by Dreams Lab, Virginia Tech. I saw Art Venture T-shirts displayed on their booth. A girl said, “The T-shirt free for kids.” Jerry is oldest kid. He got one T-shirt.

After we stood in front of the ribbon-cutting area. I heard Mayor Bowers say, “Annie, you can sit beside me and Anita Price, we have plenty of chairs here.” Oh! I told Jerry we can sit down in the first row of the chairs. Mayor Bowers said “OK.” I said, “Thanks to Mayor Bowers.” Of course, I got a picture to prove it when I back to work to explain to my co-workers. See! We sat beside Mayor Bowers in the first row. The Mayor is one of the ribbon-cutting people.

After the ribbon cutting, the door opened for Art Venture. We saw kids and families everywhere. They watched rainbow puppets show. Also then lucky people won $100 Kroger gift card for drawing. I never won anything in my life.

At 12 noon, Jerry was hungry for food. So I took him to the Hong Kong Restaurant in the City Market building for lunch. Then, we went back to Taubman to watch at 1 p.m. the Velveteen Rabbit musical preview by Roanoke Children Theatre. It was our favorite show. Jerry sat on the chair looking, listening and laughing.

We left early. We did not see the 4 p.m. dances from the Southwest Virginia Ballet. But we went to the 2nd floor, Galleries. There were Friendship Dolls: Japanese and American of the 1920s. They do not allow anyone to take pictures in the area.

In my pictures, I’m like King Kong. See! King Kong stood on top of the outside of museum building. We like giant animals such as unusual plants, dinosaurs, horse, and Humpty Dumpty.

It was a wonderful day for Art Venture at Taubman.

– Submitted by Annie Lin