Arts and Culture

Visitors to Wonder Valley do not need to be part of a large group, event or gathering, as our facility also welcomes individuals wishing to take a break from life with a wonderful Leisure Traveler Getaway.

We have 10 "themed" cottages (shown below), all with front decks, suitable for 1-2 guests or a romantic couple. For families we have very spacious rooms with double sinks, walk-in closets and the ability to configure the beds in a variety of ways. Your stay always includes the use of our recreational facilities including boating and fishing on Dalton Pond, swimming pools, tennis, basketball and volleyball courts, a Games pavilion with ping pong, pool tables, air hockey and foosball, trampoline center, horseshoe pits and children’s playground. Available with advanced notice and an additional fee are guided horseback trail rides, paintball, archery, Ropes Challenge Course, waterslides, professional massage therapy and nearby golfing at Sherwood Golf Club.

Stay at Wonder Valley and as part of your package enjoy a "Hearty Country Continental" breakfast, served either in our beautiful Lakeshore Lodge or in one of our other more intimate dining rooms. Other meals are available with 24 hour notice.

Agriculture is the lifeblood and soul of this wonderfully rich area. This museum pays tribute to past generations of California farmers and dairymen – showing the tools and technology they used to create a garden from a desert.

By todays standards, the early settlers used fairly primitive equipment. Horse-drawn farm tools, fully-restored antique tractors, steam-driven harvesters, old fashioned milking machines, a collection of barbed wire and homemakers tools are on display.

There is even a restored 1920s Crop Duster Airplane.

The Antique Farm Equipment Museum is easily accessible to all adults and children. Self-guided tours are as simple as reading the printed descriptions that tell the story of each piece on display.

Admission: $5 for adults; $3 for seniors; $2 for children younger than 18. Tickets allow access to the AgVentures! Learning Center.

This non-profit community arts center is one of Visalias oldest. It is located in a delightful brick building that once was the “old creamery,” located next to what was the “old jail” and across the street from The Depot restaurant that once served as Visalias railroad terminal. Childrens classes are an ongoing feature and the gallery, with full-service kitchen, is available for public and private receptions. Kevin Bowman, curator.

Visalia is home to the Central California Chinese Cultural Center where the history of 19th century Chinese immigrants is documented. The building is constructed in typical Chinese style. It includes a Confucian temple and an exposition room housing cultural artifacts, paintings and rare architectural finds. It can be reserved for private parties, weddings and banquets.

On display are artist Richard Arenas bronze sculptures and tiles. Many of his subjects portray the life of Californias migrant farm workers, reflecting his own familys history.  He created the statue of Hugh Mooney and his dog for the Tulare County Historical Society. Displays are varied monthly, featuring the work of other area artists.

Once upon a time….. The Enchanted Playhouse was founded in 1992 with a mission to “enchant, surprise, excite and amuse audiences, young and old.” It is the only theater company devoted to staging shows expressly for children in the San Joaquin Valley between Fresno and Bakersfield with such beloved stories as “Charlottes Web,” “Sleeping Beauty,” Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and many more. They are adult-directed and performed, with many opportunities for teen and younger actors. Summer theater workshops for ages 5 through high school are extremely popular with children and parents.

At the center you will find a variety of classes available to choose from in many mediums, as well as artist workshop opportunities, hourly space rental for projects, and many more. We have classes for ages pre-school to adults for all levels of experience, especially the beginner, or “want to be beginner”.

The art center sponsors many community events like Art in the Park in the summer and VAST (Visalia Art Studio Tour) in the fall. -Oct. 6th, 2007- The mission of the Huff Art Center is to cultivate the creation, appreciation and enjoyment of the visual arts through classes, exhibitions and events designed to facilitate these objectives.

The success of ImagineU Childrens Museum is the result of a community effort. Its goal is to create a multicultural learning center filled with hands-on scientific, cultural and artistic exhibits for the whole family.

ImagineU Childrens Museum is a member of the Association of Childrens Museums. The museum hosts a variety of interactive events and displays, many of which are free to the public.

Through a grant from the City of Visalias Community Arts Program, ImagineU has developed a series of Traveling Trunks for use by area teachers. They contain lesson plans that incorporate visual, tactile and auditory learning tools. These are age-based materials named the Van Gogh Trunk (art, science and social studies); Yokut Native American Trunk (information, artifacts and art projects); Colonial Folk Art Trunk (quilting, weaving, pottery and more); and the Waste Management Trunk for grades K-12 pertaining to recycling and environmental awareness.

Two fall plays and several student-directed productions are staged each year in this community college theater located on Mooney Blvd., just off Hwy 198 in Visalia. The community eagerly anticipates its annual spring offering – a full-scale Broadway style musical with guest professionals in lead roles. The College also features band and choral concerts throughout the year, along with art displays in its theater gallery. James McDonnell, heads the theater arts department for the College.

The forte of this all-volunteer company is edgier works of a more adult nature.  Its most recent presentation was the ambitious and dramatic “The Lion in Winter.” As one board member put it, “were breathing new life into this company, but the mission of this traveling troupe is the same as its founders set at its start 20 years ago in Visalia."

One of the most outstanding collections of Japanese art in the nation is housed in buildings surrounded by a working farm. It is one of only two museums in the U.S. concentrating solely on Japanese art. The institute was founded by Elizabeth and Willard G. Clark in 1995 and is housed at their ranch. Its name honors Dr. Sherman Lee and his wife Ruth. He is the former Director of the Cleveland Museum of Art and they have been instrumental in advising the Clarks on their acquisitions since the 1970s.On display is a superb collection of significant Japanese screen and scroll paintings, sculptures and art objects dating from the 8th to the 20th centuries. There are about 160 hanging scrolls, 30 pairs of single screens, decorative art pieces and 10 works of sculpture, mainly from the Kamakura period (1185-1333).

This non-profit theater company opened in June, 1957 with “Suds in Your Eyes.” It has since performed numerous plays and musicals. Having rented a number of different quarters, The Players searched for a permanent home. In 1976, the City of Visalia offered the company use of the Ice House building – a huge, empty brick building constructed in the 1920s. After months of construction through donations of time, materials and money, the building was transformed into the comfortable 150-seat theater in use today.

This is the citys only gallery that offers custom framing service along with fine art and unique gifts. The shop carries one of the largest collections by western artist Robert “Shoofly” Shufelt and is an authorized dealer for the Thomas Kinkade Company. Artwork in the gallery also features artists Stephen Lyman, June Care, James Christensen, Bev Doolittle and many others from the Greenwich Workshop, Somerset House, Mill Pond Press and McGaw Publishing.

The Tulare County Museum offers a large window to the past with five separate sections of historical artifacts. Another section for antique farm equipment is bequeathed and will be added in the near future. A woolly mammoth tusk that could be 11,000 to 30,000 years old is on display, along with artifacts of early settlers and Yokut Indians, some dating back 1,000 years. Outbuildings include fully furnished homes that have been moved to the site, as well as a complete blacksmith shop, an old jail, an original log cabin and early school.Children love to climb aboard an early 1900s Southern Pacific caboose behind the main museum building as they gain an understanding into the areas well-preserved sense of time and place.

Not to be confused with the county museum, the Tulare Historical Museum is located in the city of Tulare and showcases the history of the city, while serving as a cultural center for the community. Traveling exhibitions sponsored by the California Council for the Humanities, special exhibits and works by artists and authors of all disciplines frequent the museum. The museum gift shop offers unusual gifts and hard to find historical books.Tulare is justifiably proud of producing two athletes who earned Olympic gold medals. Special collections honor the lives of Bob Mathias, Decathlon winner in 1948 and 1952, and Sim Iness, Discus winner in the 1952 Helsinki games.Another special collection pays tribute to Tulares Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt, Jr. who became Chief of Naval Operations in 1971, the nations highest ranking naval officer. A collection of military memorabilia bequeathed by Manuel Toledo is permanently displayed.

This non-profit theater company opened in June, 1957 with “Suds in Your Eyes.” It has since performed numerous plays and musicals. Having rented a number of different quarters, The Players searched for a permanent home. In 1976, the City of Visalia offered the company use of the Ice House building – a huge, empty brick building constructed in the 1920s. After months of construction through donations of time, materials and money, the building was transformed into the comfortable 150-seat theater in use today.

This downtown landmark tells a lot about Visalians and their commitment to beauty and history. Fox built hundreds of theaters across the nation to promote their films. Six of them were in California, and the Visalia theatre opened in 1930 in the early days of “talking pictures.” As the film industry evolved, the trend changed to smaller viewing units and multi-plex cinemas. In 1976, the Visalia Fox was divided into three theaters but closed completely 20 years later. Friends of the Fox, a non-profit grass roots organization, immediately set to work to “save the Fox.” It was reopened three years later, wearing the designation of The League of Historic American Theatres and restored to its original grand design. Home to the Tulare County Symphony, the Fox is available to rent for concerts, plays, recitals, weddings, meetings and receptions.