Have your cake, and play with it too: Interactive pop-up Cheat Land Day coming to Palm Desert
It might be uncouth to play with your food if you're an adult, but a new interactive food art museum coming soon to Palm Desert encourages it with some of our favorite snacks.
Cheat Day Land, a pop-up interactive experience, is "a tribute to the infamous 'cheat day' in the fitness scene," or the day when you take a break from your diet to enjoy whatever food you want. The pop-up museum by Rubi Rymenmy, creator and founder of Art Flying Aerial, will be coming to The Shops at Palm Desert, at 72-840 Highway 111 on the first floor near Macy's, beginning Oct. 14.
The museum is as colorful and bright as some of people's favorite treats. Rooms inside have different themes and activities, such as climbing a food wall, taking a dip into a bowl of cereal, dressing up as ice cream and even getting an arm workout in by benching mouthwatering donuts. The tour lasts for about an hour.
Among the must-bring items on the tour is a camera. Cheat Day Land encourages all visitors to snap as many photos as they can with vibrant art pieces that might make them drool (but hopefully not on the works themselves). In fact, searching for the words "Cheat Day Land" on Instagram will result in thousands of photos of people posing in cereal bowls, climbing a food mountain made of fries, burgers and pizza and swinging on a pink donut swing that might make Homer Simpson jealous.
"You would never be in your cereal bowl, but now you are," communications and marketing manager Sunny Brothers said. "It's just a really sweet experience to indulge in."
Tickets are available every Friday to Sunday through Nov. 27. General admission costs $25, and children ages 2 and younger are free. A general admission family package, which includes 10 tickets, is available for $199. Hours of operation are 11:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
For more information, visit https://www.showclix.com/event/cheatday-land. Merchandise also will be available for purchase, and Brothers said the museum connects with local artists and businesses to showcase their products.
Rymenmy was inspired to create a pop-up museum of her own after visiting one in Japan, according to the Cheat Day Land website. With an appreciation and background in fitness, the idea of an interactive museum dedicated to cheat days was born.
She then enlisted the help of her sister, Yolanda, to conceptualize and develop the business idea, while brothers Nick Reyes and Enrique Reyes worked on graphic and visual designs to bring interactive art to life. Manuel Reyes, the architect, designed the layout of the museum.
"It's a fun experience for people of all ages, and best of all you get to take photos," Brothers said.
The museum works to "marry JOY and FOOD in a celebratory way, bringing happiness to people of all ages across the country," according to the website. Some critics, though, have suggested it perpetuates unhealthy relationships with food, and that merchandise with the word "Cheater" on it may make people feel guilty for wanting to indulge in a sweet treat.
Brothers said the museum has "nothing to do with shaming people for eating [junk food], but rather just celebrating our indulgences."
"It's more about the art ... and it's more about having this whimsical experience and indulging in the sweetness of that, not so much promoting the food that you eat," she added."
Palm Desert is Cheat Day Land's third location since opening in 2018, Brothers said, with previous pop-ups in Los Angeles and Orange County. The museum was supposed to come to the Coachella Valley in 2020, but was halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ema Sasic covers entertainment and health in the Coachella Valley. Reach her at ema.sasic@desertsun.com or on Twitter @ema_sasic.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Interactive food art museum Cheat Land Day coming to Palm Desert
