Fundraisers at three Mellow Mushroom restaurants will help a non-profit group open a transportation museum in Greenville.
The “FUN”raisers being held all day at the Mellow Mushroom in downtown Greenville, on East Main Street in Spartanburg and on Gervais Street in Columbia will benefit the Transportation Museum of the World.
Developers of the Transportation Museum of the World, featuring the Miniature World of Trains, plan to open in the 133,000-square-foot, former Sam’s Club building at 2519 Laurens Road later this year.
The Miniature World of Trains, the nonprofit organization developing the museum, said its model railroading exhibit will depict, in phases, famous United States railroad scenes and city infrastructure with an additional European Prototype Model Railroad.
The project, organizers said, will be similar in magnitude to the Miniatur-Wunderland in Hamburg, Germany, a railway model that features scenes spanning from Scandinavia to the United States. Along the way are various dioramas featuring people and landscaping. That exhibit has had more than four million visitors since its 2001 opening.
Frank Ruby, chairman and president of the Miniature World of Trains group, announced plans for the new 'miniature world' in late 2010.
He told GreenvilleOnline.com that the aim of the project is to promote the hobby of model train building, educate people on the technologies that go into the hobby, and create an attraction that draws people from all over the world to Greenville.
Anyone dining at Mellow Mushroom FUNraiser locations should mention mention that they want donate to the Transportation Museum or Miniature World and the restaurant will take 10 percent off the total of their meal (excluding tax and alcohol) and donate that money to the project, according to an announcement from MWOT.
The yet to be named Transportation Museum mascot will be at the downtown Greenville restaurant from noon until 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Photos can be taken with the mascot for free. They will be posted on the museum’s web site.
