PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — Organizers of a proposed children’s museum recently had a change of plans and are locating the attraction in the Aroostook Centre Mall instead of the empty restaurant they had originally considered.
The nonprofit’s pivot from the previous location at the Bonanza building on Main Street happened during the week of Jan. 28 after Elise Perrault, who is leading the effort behind the children’s museum, reached out to mall owner Dana Cassidy to get a space.
The Children’s Museum of Aroostook County will be located in a former women’s clothing store in the mall with just under 9,000 square feet of space. Exhibits will be built over the next six weeks.
“Every thriving community has a children’s museum,” Perrault said. “It helps to revitalize the city [and] makes us a center for tourism.”
The goal is to open the museum on April 1, a week before an estimated 40,000 people descend on Presque Isle for the solar eclipse.
Cassidy sees the children’s museum as a way to help keep residents in Aroostook County, which has lost population over the past 30 years, he said.
“At the end of the day this was the more opportune venue,” Cassidy said.
Presque Isle is having trouble retaining professionals in the city. Perrault believes the city can grow its population for families by providing a learning and activity space for children and teens to learn about Aroostook County.
A full roster for the displays for the children’s museum is still in the works but there will be exhibits for a dental clinic, medical room, grocery store, and agriculture, Perrault said.
The part of the museum being built first will be for young children up to 10 years old with areas for teenagers being built at a later date. Educational opportunities for local children and teens who are not into sports will be available at the museum.
“Over time these exhibits will be dynamic, so we are going to rotate, change, and enhance them,” Perrault said. “Different companies can come in and out as they want to support and want to get the public exposed to their brand identity.”
After the museum opens there will be seven weeks of planned summer camps between July and August with a different theme each week.
The children’s museum is working with the University of Maine at Presque Isle and Northern Maine Community College on rotating exhibits.
Some of the locally branded exhibits at the pop-up event held at the Northeastland Hotel included a pipe building station for S.W. Collins, a mock french fry station for Penobscot McCrum, and miniature house building from Huber Engineered Woods.
“If I can put some smiles on some kids’ faces that’s what life is about as far as I am concerned,” Cassidy said.
