Courtyard features outside fun

Iconic restaurant reborn at Temple Children’s Museum; event will honor local Girl Scouts

May 13, 2023

The Temple Children's Museum, 11 N Fourth Street, will officially open its outdoor courtyard with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 5 p.m. on May 19. The courtyard features play structures and brightly colored murals painted by local Girl Scout Troop 21201. Downtown's new Fourth Street Parking Garage looms in the background. David Stone photo

DAVID STONE | OUR TOWN TEMPLE

A new outdoor play area at Temple Children’s Museum will officially open Friday, May 19, with a dedication and ribbon-cutting ceremony.

The event will honor local Girl Scouts who helped decorate and design the new TCM courtyard, said Emily Smith, executive director of the downtown museum. The ceremony will be at 5 p.m. at 11 N Fourth Street.

“We will be recognizing volunteers who have helped make this project possible, and the Girl Scouts have played a huge role in this becoming reality,” Smith said. “We will have some great new attractions outside that kids are going to love.”

Local Girl Scouts painted two murals for the courtyard, one depicting Bell County during the day and the other at night.

“The murals contain elements that are easily identifiable,” Smith said. “The daytime mural shows Lake Belton, bluebonnets and local landmarks, and the night mural features Central Texas animals you might see at night and starry constellations.”

“The courtyard isn’t quite 100 percent complete, but we are getting very close,” she said.

Featured displays in the courtyard include a large boat that will be wrapped with the Temple Children’s Museum logo so it can double as a sign for the museum.

“The boat will be on blue turf so it looks like it’s on water. We also will have a pier jutting out into the blue turf so kids can ‘fish,’” Smith said. “The kids will wear lifejackets while playing on the blue turf.”

A blue playhouse has been converted into a ‘restaurant’ with a name that will be familiar to Temple-area families.

“It’s going to be called Bluebonnet Cafe,” she said with a smile. “We talked to the Pitts family and they loved the idea.”

“The new Bluebonnet Cafe will feature a kitchen, a changeable menu and a drive-thru. We have bikes and trikes that can be used to ride around the restaurant to pick-up orders.”

Another courtyard attraction is a Builder’s House, a small house that is under construction. Kids can help finish the little home by adding velcro or magnetic siding. The house is empty and visitors can walk inside, and there are holes in the walls where creative young home builders can add PVC pipe for plumbing.

“It’s not here yet, but we will be adding a rock-climbing structure to the courtyard as well,” Smith said. “It’s on the way — we’re having some delays in shipping so it probably won’t be here in time for the opening.”

“I can’t emphasize how hard the Girl Scouts worked on getting our courtyard ready,” she added. “We gave them a blank canvas and a loose idea of what we wanted. They did a remarkable job.”