1/7/2013 Former Chamber Director Jim Valley Named Director of Discover! Children’s Museum

Monday, January 7, 2013
By Kyle Spurr, The Chronicle

The Discover! Childrens Museum, set to open a pilot museum in the Twin City Town Center next month, has named former Centralia/Chehalis Chamber of Commerce Director Jim Valley the new director of the pilot musuem.

The scaled-down, pilot children’s museum will open in a Chehalis retail space between Michaels and Maurices on Feb. 9 for six months to gather the community’s input for an eventual full-scale museum.

The chamber announced in November that Valley would not be coming back to his director position following a nine-month medical leave. Valley, 43, had a series of medical emergencies last year from a rare autoimmune disease called Wegener’s vasculitis.

Valley is also still fighting a fungus, called aspergillus, that paralyzed the left side of his body last year because of his weakened immune system.

Valley, who has regained feeling on the left side of his body, said he is healthy enough to take on his new director position with the museum.

“I’ve been able to work 40 hours a week for months,” Valley said.

Valley will work with the Discover! Children’s Museum Advisory Group, which operates under the nonprofit Friends of the Chehalis Community Renaissance.

The advisory group has worked for more than four years to bring a children’s museum to Lewis County.

Advisory Group Vice Chair Allyn Roe said the pilot museum will offer a main exhibit called “Power of Air”, where air blows through a maze of flexible tubing. The museum will also house a paleontology fossil dig, Lego building exhibit, a train table, toddler area with building blocks and other youth-centered attractions.

The advisory group recently signed a six-month lease for the 3,300-square-foot space.

The pilot project is expected to cost $50,000, Roe said.

Valley, who doesn’t have any children of his own, said he is still motivated to create a space for families to bring their children.

“When this place is alive with kids playing and learning, it’s going to have a very positive energy,” Valley said.

The museum will be opened Wednesday through Saturday and cost a

Valley said the museum is seeking donations, sponsorships for each exhibit and volunteers to run the pilot museum.

Those interested in volunteering or learning more can visit the museum’s website at www.discovermuseum.org or contact the Chehalis Renaissance at 345-1042 ext. 4.