CONTACT: Meg Dickhart - mdickhart@hagley.org
Public Relations Coordinator
(302) 658-2400 ext. 238

IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Hagley’s Creek Kids Debut at Workers’ Heritage Fest

Wilmington, Delaware - March 2008 – Experience French, Italian, and Irish cultures at Hagley's Workers' Heritage Fest on Sunday, March 16, from 1 to 4 p.m. Hagley’s youth leaders, the Creek Kids, will bring to life the cultures of the people who worked in the Hagley powder yards through games, food, entertainment, and more. Activities are included with regular admission and free for members.

Visitors can try pastimes like bocce ball, marbles, and fox in the hole. Children can make punched tin crafts and pew dolls. Samples of Irish soda bread and pain perdu (French toast) will be available to taste. The day will also feature music and storytelling by Danaher and MacCloud and dance performances by McAleer School of Irish Dancing and New Castle County Irish Society. Eleven high school students, “senior” Creek Kids, will lead activities with support from younger, “junior,” Creek Kids.

Hagley's Creek Kids is a youth leadership and development program. High school students undergo extensive training from November through August to learn how to develop and implement a public program. Training includes lessons on leadership, instruction in history and science content, visits to museums, brainstorming and planning session, and hands-on exercises. Students apply this training during public programs at Hagley.

The Creek Kids family activities will be held on the third Sunday of each month, March through August. Upcoming programs include Power Up at Hagley on April 20, Mothers and Daughters Day on May 18, Fathers and Sons Day on June 15, Gunpowder in American History on July 20, and the Natural World of the Brandywine on August 17. Each program will include music, games and leisure activities, history, food, and make-and-take crafts.

Funding for Hagley’s Creek kids program is provided, in part, by the following corporations: Artisans’ Bank; AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Capital Growth Management, L.P.; EDiS Construction Managers, Inc.; Endo Pharmaceuticals; Haverford Trust Company; The Laffey-McHugh Foundation; Mercer Health and Benefits Company; PFPC Worldwide, Inc.; Valero Delaware City Refinery; and Wilmington Savings Fund Society.

Hagley Museum and Library collects, preserves, and interprets the unfolding history of American enterprise. Hagley is located on Route 141 in Wilmington, Delaware. For more information, call (302) 658-2400 weekdays or visit www.hagley.org.