Children's Museum? (Scranton, Lancaster, Wilkes-Barre: real estate, lease, how much) - Northeastern Pennsylvania - Pennsylvania (PA) -Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Pocono area - City-Data Forum

KarenRice · 08-04-2009, 07:53 AM

We just got back from vacation in a lovely little town in Michigan, called Ludington.

On Saturday the weather was iffy and not nice beach weather, so we took our wee little niece (age 2) and nephew (age 4) along with two of our kids (ages 9 and 11) to the Children's Museum in town. It didn't look very big and we figured after an hour or two we'd have to find something else to do.

This little place was AWESOME. No, it wasn't very big, but the kids had a terrific time (even my older two had fun playing with all the little kids). It was a simple place, about 1500 s.f.. Different businesses sponsored "areas..."

There was a miniature ice cream shop, complete with tables, "freezers" filled with "ice cream" (magnetic "dips" that looked like ice cream and sat nicely in the play "cones"), an pizza oven, cash register, tables, a menu, etc.

There was a "grocery store" with shopping carts, real food containers and realistic looking plastic food, and cash registers....

A "building center" with pvc pipes to connect, pieces of vinyl siding to put into place, a hammering place...

An old outdoor playset was converted to a "treehouse" with a puppet theater...a dress up area, a stage with a microphone, a real sailboat in a pit with blue balls to look like water, complete with a "dock" and life preservers, a sand box, water table...

It was done by volunteers and was started when a group of moms decided they needed something like this for their town.

I was inspired and thought it would be awesome if we could get something like that started in our area but it would require talented people to actually commit to doing it - we'd need to get local businesses to sponsor it, we'd need to raise money, we'd need volunteers to commit to helping run the place...we'd need to find a place, obtain an LLC,/non profit legal stuff,

I got worn out thinking about what we would NEED to do and need to have people COMMIT to -

I'm not very talented beyond coming up with ideas and taking pictures (sigh..can't hammer or build things very well....)

I'm wondering how many people would be interested in starting something like this in the Hawley / Lake Wallenpaupack area. We ended up staying there for three hours and only left because WE, the grownups, wanted to go shopping. The kids were happy as clams.

ConfusingRotary · 08-04-2009, 10:53 AM

For one, I think that Hawley/Wallenpaupack is kind of out there for a lot of NEPAns. Might be better served to be in WB or Scranton proper. I also think that too many people here work blue collar jobs with long hours that just wouldn't make very many people available to volunteering their rare free time. Especially when there are other things that need volunteers like organized sports, 4-h, boy scouts, etc.

greentown · 08-04-2009, 01:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KarenRice

We just got back from vacation in a lovely little town in Michigan, called Ludington.

On Saturday the weather was iffy and not nice beach weather, so we took our wee little niece (age 2) and nephew (age 4) along with two of our kids (ages 9 and 11) to the Children's Museum in town. It didn't look very big and we figured after an hour or two we'd have to find something else to do.

This little place was AWESOME. No, it wasn't very big, but the kids had a terrific time (even my older two had fun playing with all the little kids). It was a simple place, about 1500 s.f.. Different businesses sponsored "areas..."

There was a miniature ice cream shop, complete with tables, "freezers" filled with "ice cream" (magnetic "dips" that looked like ice cream and sat nicely in the play "cones"), an pizza oven, cash register, tables, a menu, etc.

There was a "grocery store" with shopping carts, real food containers and realistic looking plastic food, and cash registers....

A "building center" with pvc pipes to connect, pieces of vinyl siding to put into place, a hammering place...

An old outdoor playset was converted to a "treehouse" with a puppet theater...a dress up area, a stage with a microphone, a real sailboat in a pit with blue balls to look like water, complete with a "dock" and life preservers, a sand box, water table...

It was done by volunteers and was started when a group of moms decided they needed something like this for their town.

I was inspired and thought it would be awesome if we could get something like that started in our area but it would require talented people to actually commit to doing it - we'd need to get local businesses to sponsor it, we'd need to raise money, we'd need volunteers to commit to helping run the place...we'd need to find a place, obtain an LLC,/non profit legal stuff,

I got worn out thinking about what we would NEED to do and need to have people COMMIT to -

I'm not very talented beyond coming up with ideas and taking pictures (sigh..can't hammer or build things very well....)

I'm wondering how many people would be interested in starting something like this in the Hawley / Lake Wallenpaupack area. We ended up staying there for three hours and only left because WE, the grownups, wanted to go shopping. The kids were happy as clams.

Although I think my kids are a bit old for this, I think this area would be great for that sort of thing. In the summer, there are always vacationers looking for something to do on a rainy day (and we've certainly had our share of those this year!), and I also think that since the area is central to several school districts (Wallenpaupack, Western Wayne, Honesdale), you would also have many people that would want to visit during the rest of the year.

As far as volunteers, it is possible that the high school would have kids that would want to help, as many need community service hours for Honor Society and other reasons.

Magritte25 · 08-04-2009, 03:56 PM

I think it's a great idea. There are Children's museums in Lancaster, Philly and Bloomsburg (that I know of) and if done the right way - they are an awesome asset to the community. PLUS they are great for the younger children that normally can't enjoy museums because of their natural want to touch everything.

The-Electric-City · 08-04-2009, 04:30 PM

I think it would be a wonderful idea, but in the valley somewhere (Scranton/W-B). Hawley/Lake Wallenpaupack is just too far from the area that most people live in. I think it would be a better idea if it could be built in the city somewhere.

KarenRice · 08-04-2009, 06:22 PM

Well - as Greentown pointed out, and this was what I was thinking - there are a LOT of vacationers that come to this area, and there is very little recreation or things to do esp for little ones other than going to the lake or Claws n Paws / or Kostas Family Fun Park and Fun and Games - all of which can be quite pricey, esp. if you have more than one kid too.

With the new community college / silk mill project becoming more of a reality for Hawley, I think this area is getting ripe for something cool like this. The town where the one is that I visited is certainly no large town - and it's not necessarily overflowing with rich people either - it's a lot like here, and they have wealthy vacation people coming in during the vacation season year after year, loving the community and supporting it (some of the real estate is crazy - almost a million dollars for a house on leased land in some spots of the lake!)

It doesn't have to be full blown right away - it could start out small, open only on weekends or maybe one night during the week. This one that inspired me also does birthday parties, school tours, etc. I have pictures of it - just not online yet. It's a very nice place and personally I think the Hawley area COULD sustain it - IF we have enough people to help with it.

Magritte25 · 08-05-2009, 07:23 PM

How big is Hawley? I'm just wondering because Bloomsburg has quite a successful Children's Museum and I certainly don't think of that as anything but a larger town. If this ever did come to pass, oyu should advertise on PBS during the kids' segments. Us moms are always looking for ways to keep the monkeys busy!

SteelCityRising · 08-05-2009, 07:36 PM

The Lake Region could support that area just fine during the summer months for the reasons that Greentown stated (i.e. NYC vacationers looking for something "fun" on a "rainy day"), but during the off-season I don't know how much of a population base there would be to support this. I've long advocated for something like this (more specifically a childrens' science center) in Scranton or Wilkes-Barre proper because it would be closer to a much denser population base to support its operations, but I agree with Karen and Greentown that the children out that way DO deserve something "close to home" to look forward to enjoying and learning from as well.

It's really a tough call. A feasibility study would need to be done to determine if enough people would be willing to drive out from Scranton/W-B during the "off-season" in the Lake Region to support such a center when all of the "flat-landers" (if that's what they're still called?) leave.

KarenRice · 08-05-2009, 07:42 PM

Well people from this area have been willing to drive to Binghamton area to go to Discovery Place (I think that's what it's called..)

greentown · 08-06-2009, 07:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KarenRice

Well people from this area have been willing to drive to Binghamton area to go to Discovery Place (I think that's what it's called..)

I have to agree with this. Most of us that live in rural areas are accustomed to driving distances to do things, whether it is shopping, appointments or recreation. I wouldn't expect people from Scranton to drive to Hawley, because most of the people I know that live in Scranton are uncomfortable driving outside the city. But as I stated earlier, if you think about how many school districts are in the general area and how many kids attend them, you have a huge base of potential visitors that live in the general area and are accustomed to driving, so I don't see that as being a problem. Also, most schools are happy to send home flyers with students if you provide them (free advertising!) and I could also envision that this would be a good field trip destination for some of the elementary students. And I also think that starting slowly would be fine. Open on weekends to start and maybe one or two weekdays. You could also be open by appointment for school groups during the school year.