The San Diego Union Tribune

La Costa couple debuts ‘Love Tour’ pop-up museum

Encinitas — 

Over the past decade, Ann Delaney and Kyle Hill ran a wedding supply business where they created party favors, nuptial arches and three-dimensional photo backdrops and props for wedding guests’ Instagram shots.

Now, the La Costa couple has moved beyond the nuptial ceremonies themselves to focus on re-creating the look and feel of romance in their newly opened pop-up exhibit, “Museum of What? Love Tour.”

The 16,000-square-foot exhibition opened on Valentine’s Day evening in a former patio furniture store in the T.J. Maxx shopping center in Encinitas. Inside the building on Thursday morning, a bustling crew of mural artists and designers were putting the finishing touches on the project, which has nearly two dozen three-dimensional room stations and painted backdrops.

Delaney said the Love Tour offers visitors a G-rated, hands-on experience centered on love, romance, friendship and family.

“Over the years we found that people wanted fewer tangible things and more of an experience at their weddings,” she said. “People are craving love and romance.”

Married co-owners Kyle Hill and Ann Delaney of La Costa inside the gazebo exhibit of their newly opened pop-up exhibit “The Museum of What? Love Tour” in Encinitas.

Inside the building there are places to hang written notes from a wishing tree, paddle a rowboat under a full moon backdrop, dig for seashells and scratch out love notes in an oversize sandbox, play in a giant pool of pink bubble balls, pose in front of a giant pair of feather wings and attach a lock of love to a fence before a mural of Paris.

Visitors can rake sand in a zen garden occupied by a 7-foot-tall panda sculpture, get chocolate Kisses in the Love & Kisses lounge, ride a flowered swing, pose with a dozen puppy sculptures and “walk” a trio of fake flamingos on leashes. There’s also a chalkboard room where they can write their wishes on the walls and a sassafras wood wall where people can “carve” their initials with brown Sharpee pens. To engage multiple senses, many of the rooms have their own individual scents.

Although many of the exhibits are designed for adults, Delaney said several are geared for children, since she and Hill are parents themselves, with a 9-year-old son and 7-year-old daughter.

Love Tour, which is slated to move next to Orange County, is the first exhibition of the couple’s new company, The Museum of What? Delaney said she and her husband have many as-yet undisclosed ideas in the pipeline for future themed touring exhibits.

A giant panda sits in the sand zen garden in the center of the Museum of What Love Tour exhibit that opened on Valentine’s Day in Encinitas.

Delaney, 38, said she and her husband came up with the idea about three months ago after hearing about the success of other pop-up exhibitions, which are often little more than brightly colored interactive spaces where Instagram users can pose with oversize props in imaginatively designed rooms.

One of the most successful is the Museum of Ice Cream, which has toured the country since 2016 charging visitors $38 to “swim” in a pool of plastic sprinkles, swing on an oversize plastic ice cream bar and ride a giant circus animal cookie carousel.

Because the Love Tour moved from the idea stage to grand opening so quickly, Delaney and Hill didn’t have much time to market their new concept. They also didn’t have many photographs to share on Instagram since most of the props and scenery have been created onsite in just the past 10 days. Nonetheless, virtually all of the 3,000 tickets for this weekend are sold out.

Hill, 34, is a Marine veteran from Arkansas whose passion is creating whimsical designs. One of his favorite items in the exhibit is a “love bug,” a full-size Volkswagen Beetle that he painted and decorated in dark red paint and sparkle glitter.

Delaney’s background is as an artist who has sold her rustic chic artwork, ornaments and designs on Etsy and to clients including David’s Bridal. Many of the designs and props in Love Tour were originally developed for weddings and special events.

Love Tour is on exhibit through March 15 at 220 N. El Camino Real in Encinitas. Admission is $24 for adults and $15 for children ages 3 to 12. Children 2 and under are free. Tickets are sold by timed entry, with a maximum of 200 visitors per hour to reduce wait times. The exhibit is open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesdays-Sundays. Advance tickets can be purchased online at museumofwhat.com with limited sales at the door, depending on capacity.

Muralist Hanna Daly paints a Paris scene as Ryan Erpelding, left, works on a wishing well Thursday for the opening later in the day of the touring pop-up exhibition “The Museum of What? Love Tour” in Encinitas.

(Bill Wechter / San Diego Union-Tribune)