Shana Grife of Children’s Museum of Branch County

Lifelong Michigander Shana Grife has a track record of giving back to her community. After volunteering in her adopted hometown of Coldwater for over 20 years, Shana became a member of the Coldwater DDA/Main Street Board in September 2025 – a fitting step for a community champion who also serves as the executive director of the Children’s Museum of Branch County.

Working at the helm of a local gem, Shana is proud of the impact the museum has had on the Coldwater community and its growth in recent years.

Thanks to support from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) and its Public Spaces Community Places program, the Children’s Museum of Branch County launched a successful crowdfunding campaign in September 2022 to help them move to the historic Taylor’s building in Downtown Coldwater. The MEDC contributed $50,000 in matching funds to help with the revitalization of the historic building, which provided the museum with more space for programming and exhibits. The Children’s Museum of Branch County opened the doors of its new home in April 2023.

In July 2025, the MEDC awarded a $25,000 Match on Main grant to the City of Coldwater DDA on behalf of the Children’s Museum of Branch County. The museum will install a vertical climbing wall exhibit, providing additional offerings to its young visitors and families. In August 2025, Grand Rapids muralist Rhiannan Sibbald completed a two-story floral mural on the side of the museum building – the largest mural in Coldwater and a colorful contribution to the community’s public art offerings.

Raising three children with her husband in Coldwater, Shana is grateful to be making her own small-town memories while providing the same experiences for residents and visitors alike.

What brought you to Branch County and ultimately your role with the Children’s Museum? 

I am a lifelong Michigander and grew up in Livingston County. My husband and I both graduated from Hartland High School, and he was already working in Branch County when we got married. We decided Coldwater would be a nice place to raise a family. For many years I volunteered at Coldwater Community Schools and at the Tibbits Opera House where I was also a board member. I started volunteering for the Children’s Museum of Branch County during their annual Royal Ball Meet and Greet fundraiser in 2018. I joined the Children’s Museum of Branch County Board in 2019 and continued my volunteering. The Board knew that our expansion and move back downtown would require someone to oversee the day-to-day operations of the museum, and I became the Executive Director in January 2023.

What inspired moving the museum back to Downtown Coldwater and how did the MEDC support that process?

The Children’s Museum of Branch County originally opened in a small storefront in Downtown Coldwater in 2014. After losing their lease and not being able to find space in the downtown area, the museum relocated to a strip mall just north of downtown in 2017. Always wanting to move back downtown, in the beginning of 2020, we looked at a building that had been donated to the City of Coldwater. At that time our current location was vacant, but the DDA was hoping someone would be interested in renovating the entire three-floor building with retail on the first floor and apartments on the second and third floors. After months of “behind the scenes” discussions, we were able to look at being a long-term tenant of the first floor after a major renovation. Our BCEGA Executive Director, Lisa Miller, and I had worked on a Public Spaces Community Places crowdfunding program for our community tennis courts a few years earlier, so she felt this would be a perfect project to be able to utilize that program. We were able to raise over $150,000 with our portion being used for exhibit expansion, which was incredibly helpful.

What has changed since moving to your new location, and how does the museum help serve the community?

We love being in Downtown Coldwater! We have a sense of community that we did not have at our former location. We moved in April 2023, and we more than doubled our visitors from 2022. Our revenue significantly increased from the old location to this new location. We bring families into our downtown area who would not be coming downtown if the museum wasn’t there. We’ve had people come in who said they were driving by and turned around to come into the museum. In 2024, we had over 16,000 visitors.

The Children’s Museum of Branch County partners with Museums for All which is a nationwide program offering discounted admission to families with a Bridge Card. A lot of our visitors use it, which lets them have an interactive, educational experience together. “Play is the work of children.” We know there are so many benefits for children being exposed to new environments, new people, new experiences. Quite simply, the Children’s Museum of Branch County makes Coldwater a better community to live in and raise a family.

What are some of the things that you love about your job?

I love seeing families interacting and having a good time. We don’t have a lot of seating in the museum by design. We want families to experience the museum together. We know that the positive impact each visit has on a child is more significant when they experience it with a loved one. I love hearing stories about the developmental growth that parents/grandparents see in their children/grandchildren. We are making a difference, and that is very humbling. It drives me to consider how we can engage families with more educational experiences during their visit to the museum.

What do you enjoy about living and working in Michigan, and your community in particular?

I was raised in Metro Detroit and spent many vacations skiing, snowmobiling and enjoying the beaches in Northern Michigan. Michigan is known for its beautiful landscapes, with the Great Lakes providing stunning waterfront views and plenty of opportunities for outdoor activities like boating, hiking and skiing. Coldwater, specifically, has a charm as a smaller town, offering a quieter pace of life compared to larger cities. Coldwater is a great place to live and raise a family. With our two lake chains, we are a vacation destination for many out-of-state families also.