Serving Our Community
Turtle Bay MISSION
Turtle Bay Exploration Park educates visitors of all ages with entertaining and stimulating exhibitions and programs that interpret the complex relationships between people and their environments. Using the unique cultural, historical, and natural resources including those in the Sacramento River Region, Turtle Bay serves as a catalyst for exploring universal human experiences.
Arts & Economic Prosperity
The Economic Impact of Nonprofit Arts and Culture Organizations and Their Audiences
Turtle Bay recently hired an independent consulting agency to examine what our place is in the economic fabric of Shasta County. This agency, Americans for the Arts, uses Nobel Prize-winning methodology that has been reviewed by the White House, as well as by major private sector businesses, such as Bank of America.
Here are a few of the key findings:
- Turtle Bay Exploration Park provides more than $9.6 million of economic impact to the Shasta County area.
- Turtle Bay supports 233 full-time employees in the area, 55 of those who work for Turtle Bay. The rest of the positions are supported through local purchasing.
- Turtle Bay contributes more than $5 million to local households through payroll and vendors.
- For the City of Redding’s $350,000/year investment, Turtle Bay generates $433,000 in local government revenue.
- Of Turtle Bay’s 156,000 visitors to the museum, forest camp, and gardens, 52 percent come from out of the area, and spend $3 million OUTSIDE the park at restaurants, hotels, transportation, etc. This amounts to just under $40 spent per person.
Download a one-page summary of the report.
Download the entire report (PDF) here.
Free Days at the Park
Turtle Bay offers several free opportunities to attend the Park, with the help of generous sponsors.
- Healthy Shasta's Walk This Way at Turtle Bay sponsored by Mercy Medical Center (early October)
- Kool April Nites, sponsored by Union Bank
- REU Energy Fair, Gardens only (late June)
Partners in the Community
Turtle Bay works in partnership throughout Redding and the North State to increase awareness of the education and well-being of children, healthy lifestyles, sustainability and cultural enrichment. Here are just a few of the ways we're partnering with others to serve the area:
- One of seven original partners in Healthy Shasta, a
local coalition to promote healthy and active living among North State residents.
Learn more about Healthy Shasta and the work being done to promote well-being at
www.healthyshasta.org.
Healthy Shasta also monitors media for stories related to health. Recently The Washington Post launched a comprehensive five-part series "Young Lives at Risk: Our Overweight Children" (May 19-22, 2008). This story also contained interactive tools about healthy foods for kids and the impact of obesity on children's bodies. See the story at www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/health/childhoodobesity/index.html.
- Host of an energy-awareness program created by Redding Electric Utility (REU). Site of REU's solar panel demonstration unit in Paul Bunyan's Forest Camp. Partner location in REU's 2008 Green Energy Fair.
- Frequent partner with Shasta Community College in bringing in high-quality speakers and educational opportunities.
2007-2008 Budget
Visitors to Turtle Bay
