Children’s museum has nearly 27,000 visitors in 2018.

Children’s museum has nearly 27,000 visitors in 2018.

LUDINGTON — Sandcastles Children’s Museum continues to be a popular destination for locals and visitors. In 2018, the non-profit museum, located at 129 E. Ludington Ave., had 26,777 visitors. The three biggest months for visitors were June, 3,366; July, 5,769; and August, 5,691.

The museum also collects zip codes from all of the visitors who come in to learn and play. In 2018,  22,354 zip codes were collected. Locally, Mason County had the biggest number of visitors totaling 8,092, Oceana County, 1,003; Manistee County 867; and Lake County 267.

Thirty-seven different state zip codes are also summarized. Michigan was the largest with 19,024; Illinois coming in second with 767; Indiana third with 608, and Ohio fourth with 518. Four countries were also represented. In addition the the United States, visitors came from Australia, Canada, Italy, and Czech Republic.

“We are very proud of the volume of visitors we are able to accommodate,” said Kristin Korendyke, executive director. “Not only do we consider it a compliment that so many people want to visit and explore the museum, but the admission collected from these visitors supports our yearly budget: paying for staff, utilities, maintenance of our building and exhibits. Our organization has grown so much over the past 12 years, and we know we are able to do so only through the tremendous support we have received from our community. All of our expansion, growth, and creation of our educational exhibits are supported by the generous donations of our supporters and grants from area foundations, companies, and councils.

“The board of directors, executive director, and manager of Sandcastles Children’s Museum would like to thank our community for another fantastic year.”

The museum is currently open Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. Special spring break hours, from March 23 to April 6, will be 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Saturday and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. Weekly hours will resume in the summer.