Find Free Fun at the Bob Baker Marionettes Grand Opening

How do marionettes move?

We don't mean how they prance nor dance.

How do they pack up shop and head across the city to a new home? Do their moving boxes get tangled up in their strings? Do they keep smiling, as marionettes often do, even through the usual stresses of finding a new home?

Ponder those questions as you make a date to check out the brand-new Bob Baker Marionette Theater on York Boulevard.

The beyond-beloved children's theater, which qualifies in the "beyond-beloved" category for thousands of Southern California adults, too, recently left its longtime home near downtown for Highland Park, following the sale of the building.

Founder Bob Baker, who gained wide acclaim for his wondrous shop and stage, passed away in 2014. A devoted troupe of puppeteers kept Mr. Baker's dream alive, and prancing, even as they searched for a new home.

That new home has been busy with events for a few months now, but the grand opening has arrived, hooray and hurrah.

It's happening on Friday, Nov. 29, and entry is free.

The hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and there'll be oodles to do, from puppet shows to a host of activities. The show that night? "Rise of the Harlequins" is ticketed, so if you'd like to stay for that, be sure to purchase your admission soon.

There's also a Grand Opening Gala on Dec. 7, 2019, if you want to get especially gussied in honor of the theater.

It's a cultural treasure that more than deserves multiple kick-off parties, the sort of festivities that ably festoon its fresh space.

Have you been going to Bob Baker since its 1963 start? Did you find it along the way, or have you been meaning to finally check it out with your own tots? 

A free open house, in honor of a grand opening, on the day after a holiday, feels as merry as a marionette that's dancing before an audience of enraptured kids and grown-ups.

Stop by, say hi, and check out this charming charmer as it begins a fresh chapter.