The Inter-Mountain photos by Edgar Kelley A group of girls from Rhododendron Girls State, above, paint stars on the sidewalk in front of the Elkins Sewing Center on the corner of Davis Avenue and Third Street on Thursday. The girls teamed with the Interact Children's Museum as part of ICM's 'Stars, Stripes, and Smiles' fundraiser. The work served as a service project for the girls from RGS.

ELKINS – Participants with Rhododendron Girls State teamed up with the Interact Children’s Museum on Thursday to paint stars on the sidewalks in front of businesses in downtown Elkins.

The painting was part of ICM’s ‘Stars, Stripes, and Smiles’ fundraiser and served as a service project for the girls from RGS, who are in town for this week’s annual leadership academy at Davis & Elkins College.

“This is a fundraiser for us (ICM) and a service project for the girls from Rhododendron Girls State,” said ICM Board President Lisa Martin, who helped implement the project alongside Emily Watson from Clementine’s Cantina. “The money we raise from this project will go toward opening the door at the Children’s Museum.”

Martin said that the Rhododendron Girls State participants were amazing to work with on Thursday.

“The girls were great to work with, they were very willing to help and do anything we asked them to do,” Martin said. “They were awesome to work with and we appreciate all of their help. They are all really good girls.”

The ‘Stars, Stripes and Smiles’ fundraiser was created to raise money for the Children’s Museum and to decorate the downtown Elkins area for this year’s Fourth of July festivities.

“Businesses had the opportunity to purchase stars from Interact Children’s Museum to help brighten up the downtown area for July 4th,” said Elkins-Randolph County Chamber Executive Director Karrah Washington. “They are similar to the maple leafs that the 4-H paints for the Forest Festival. This will help liven up the town for the Fourth of July and the America 250.”

Martin added that work at the Interact Children’s Museum was going well and that the new facility would open sometime this fall. The ICM has operated as a mobile museum since 2019. Its new home will be in the historic Dann Building on the corner of Davis Avenue and Third Street.

“We are saying fall, but don’t want to give a definite timeline when we are opening,” Martin said. “We do have a big event coming up on July 26 when we are doing what we are calling the ‘hard hat tour.’ Our Founding 150 members will be invited to that event for the first hour to kind of celebrate and say thanks and then during the second hour we will open up for everybody to come and see what our progress looks like.”

The American Legion Auxiliary is the founding organizer, sponsor, and primary funder of Rhododendron Girls State. More than 200 rising high school seniors are taking part in the week-long summer event, which began on Sunday. The annual leadership academy helps participants learn first-hand about citizenship, leadership and patriotism.

For more information about Rhododendron Girls State or the Interact Children’s Museum, visit both entities’ Facebook pages.

Interact Children’s Museum Board President Lisa Martin, right, lines up a star cutout to be painted.