Peanuts gang comes to Rockford

By Liz DeCarlo
Friday, November 04, 2011

Back before the days of Nickelodeon and the Disney Channel, holidays meant kids curled up on the couch watching the Peanuts specials. Who doesn't remember poor Charlie Brown's pathetic Christmas tree?

Now a new traveling exhibit will bring the Peanuts to life in a way both parents and children will enjoy. The interactive "Peanuts... Naturally" exhibition is currently at the Discovery Center Museum in Rockford and looks at Charles Schulz's 50 years of creating the Peanuts gang.

The exhibit especially focuses on Schulz's passion for the environment and how he incorporated that interest into his comic strips of the Peanuts gang, says Ann Marie Walker, marketing manager for the museum.

This is only the second stop on the road for the new traveling exhibit, which originated at the Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center in California. The Discovery Center Museum likes it for its appeal across the generations.

"The grandparents would certainly know Peanuts and get a kick out of remembering, but kids today also know Peanuts," Walker says.

In conjunction with the exhibit, the museum is hosting classes, special events and workshops. There will also be some performances of "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" by the local Children's Theater Project. The exhibit will remain at the museum through Jan. 8.

This article appeared in the November 2011 edition of Chicago Parent.