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North Country Children’s Museum to have permanent Potsdam home; organizers claim it could make $500,000 annually for region

Posted 12/14/16

By MATT LINDSEY POTSDAM -- The North Country Children’s Museum will have a permanent home this January and open with exhibits and programs geared toward youngsters in early 2018. The museum will …

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North Country Children’s Museum to have permanent Potsdam home; organizers claim it could make $500,000 annually for region

Posted

By MATT LINDSEY

POTSDAM -- The North Country Children’s Museum will have a permanent home this January and open with exhibits and programs geared toward youngsters in early 2018.

The museum will finalize the purchase of a historic red barn located at 6 Raymond St., which has been unoccupied for many years, Sharon Vegh Williams, North Country Children’s Museum executive director said. Many years ago, it was the home of Sperling’s Furniture.

“We felt it was a good choice to repurpose a historic building,” Williams said. “We would like to support the village.”

Williams said studies have show that children’s museums bring in three times the annual budget of its program to the local economy. “If that stays true for us it would be half a million dollars,” she said.

“We wanted to be in a downtown village and have had great support from the Potsdam community,” she said.

Williams noted the large size of the building, an open layout and recent renovations were contributing factors to the decision to purchase this building for a permanent home. “The building has character and already looks like a children’s museum,” she said.

There is about 3,500 square feet of space that will allow the museum to grow.

SUNY Canton students will be working on office and classroom space that is unfinished as part of their curriculum which saves the museum labor costs and provides real work experience for the students.

Williams has years of children’s museum experience having spent time working for the children’s museum in Boston before moving to the North Country.

Through networking with colleagues the foundation was laid and in the summer of 2012 weekly programs were being offered to school-aged children.

Williams describes the museum as “hands-on, minds-on interaction” with a focus in culture, art, music, science and technology. “We try to teach the value in multiculturalism,” she said.

The museum tries to tackle timely topics, such as climate change, and will look to be a continued resource for the community and schools.

The goal is to open in January of 2018. Hours are expected to be Wednesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. with late night hours possible on one of those nights.

Williams said they will offer programs for preschoolers, homeschool students and field trips.

“It will give kids something to do during winter months,” she said. They also plan to offer special camps during school breaks.

Parking should not be an issue with ample village parking nearby across from Cactus Grill and Cantina. “We felt good about that.”

Williams said local educators will work with Alchemy Studio which is near New York City to fabricate and install exhibits.

“They will take our concepts and make them three dimensional,” she said.

The museum was able to raise enough money to purchase the building for $190,000 and expect to close in January.

Fundraising includes grants, donations and fundraisers.

The museum received a $120,000 grant from the Empire State Development Fund that will go toward creating the museum.

“Lots of local folks have donated and successful grant writing for the last four years have made this possible,” she said.

“We are grateful to the community for so much support over the last five years and all the incredible donations we’ve received,” Williams said.

Funding for the project is still about $120,000 short and anyone looking to donate can contact info@northcountrychildrensmuseum.org for more info.