BY NICK FORTUNA

For children, a single formative experience can spark a lifelong fascination with a given subject matter and even determine their career aspirations. So, it’s a good bet that many years from now, several young car wash operators will be able to trace their passion for the industry back to an exhibit at a children’s museum that opened their eyes to the possibilities. Imagine if the museum had an exhibit devoted to car washes?

Well, at least two of them do, thanks to sponsorship from Delta Sonic and Bubble Bath Car Wash.

Delta Sonic is sponsoring a car wash exhibit at Explore & More — The Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Children’s Museum in Buffalo, N.Y., where the chain of 30 car washes is headquartered. Meanwhile, Bubble Bath Car Wash is sponsoring a similar exhibit at The DoSeum in San Antonio, where all five of that company’s car washes are located.

The exhibits are aimed at young children, providing learning experiences that are fun, memorable, hands-on and interactive. Here’s a brief look at both.

DELTA SONIC MAKES LONG TERM COMMITMENT

Kim Allen, Marketing Director for Delta Sonic, said the company pledged $2 million to Explore & More in order to open the exhibit this past March and to update it over the next 20 years, keeping it fresh.

“We’re not going anywhere. We’re going to be part of this exhibit for a long time,” Allen said.

“Every kid loves the car wash — the lights, the bubbles — so we thought, ‘What better way to showcase our business than to do it for the kids?’

“We really wanted the kids to experience what we try to do for adults. They’re actually learning the [car wash] process as they’re having fun with it, so I think it’s a win-win — a little education, and there’s a whole section on water education because what people don’t realize is how much less water an actual professional car wash uses than if you washed it at home.”

At the exhibit, children use a touchscreen at a booth to select their wash and then put on a cloth car costume, such as a police car, before entering the simulated tunnel. Bubbles, cascading water effects within the glass walls and the floor and blowers expelling hot air create the illusion that each kid is going through a wash-rinse-dry cycle. Colorful lights mimic the in-tunnel LED displays that Delta Sonic uses to provide an immersive experience for customers.

Signage that customers see at real car washes, such as a “pull forward” sign and overhead clearance signs warning taller vehicles not to enter, give the tunnel a realistic feel.
“We have it really as authentic as we could,” said Michelle Urbanczyk, Chief Executive of

Explore & More. “We tried to have it be authentic without making it scary, because it is a dark place.”

The exhibit also features miniature cars enclosed in glass cases that children can spray soap and water onto using manual controls. When kids use small blowers to dry the cars, the heat changes the color of the paint job. At the vacuum wall, children feed small cloth towels into vacuums that are connected to clear tubes, allowing kids to watch their towels flow through the tubing system and land in a collection bin.

Allen said the exhibit has been an instant hit with kids, who cycle through the wash again and again.

“They love it,” she said. “It’s super interactive, very colorful, very eye-catching and hands-on.”

BUBBLE BATH SETS UP SHOP IN LITTLE TOWN

Nick Lopez, CEO of Bubble Bath, said that when he was approached in 2018 about sponsoring the car wash portion of Little Town, the most popular exhibit at The DoSeum, he didn’t have to think twice. Having suffered from attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder as a kid, he knew that some children really benefit from interactive learning experiences that go beyond the classroom setting.

“I had learning disabilities in the ‘90s, so your regular classroom agenda was really difficult for me,” Lopez said. “So, alternative learning platforms like this that give kids the ability to learn tactilely is something that I support hands down, a hundred percent.”

The DoSeum brands Little Town as a “child-sized utopia for toddlers to explore and play,” and it features exhibits by several prominent San Antonio-based companies, including a grocery store by H-E-B and a food truck by Whataburger. There’s also an airport terminal, train station, veterinary clinic and bank.

The car wash had been unbranded until November 2019, when Bubble Bath completed a much-needed renovation of the display. Lopez said the company has made a 10-year commitment to the museum.

Little Town features all the familiar elements of city life, including buildings, roads, street furniture, stop signs and miniature birds and squirrels in dioramas. Exhibits focusing on specific businesses are situated along an encircling boulevard. Meredith Doby, Vice President of Exhibits at The DoSeum, said kids get to pretend they’re working at the businesses, and that involves basic reading and math skills.

“You can do, play, create, discover, just learn in so many different interactive ways here,” Doby said, adding that Little Town is geared toward children ages 0 to 5. “It’s all about learning through role-play, so they’re learning from the adults in their lives. They’re learning early numeracy and early literacy just by playing. Here, it doesn’t feel like school, it feels like you’re just playing.”

At the car wash exhibit, kids sit in Little Tikes miniature cars that they control with their feet. Red and green lights signal to children when it’s their turn to pass through the red scrubbers and mitter curtain, which are made of the same microfiber materials used by Bubble Bath.

“Kids absolutely love riding around in the cars that we have,” Doby said. “It’s definitely fun for them to go through the car wash. It’s one of the most popular parts of Little Town, and in general, Little Town is our most popular gallery.”

A Bubble Bath Car Wash sign is displayed prominently above the scrubbers and mitter curtain, helping to build brand loyalty in the community, Lopez said. When children and their parents who have visited the museum think about going to a car wash, Bubble Bath typically is the name that springs to mind, he said.

“From a branding standpoint, this is like a home run,” said Lopez, a San Antonio native.

“We’re in there with four or five of the most recognized brands of this town that established early on that they’re for and of this community, just like we are.”