THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 12, 1994 TAG: 9410120464
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TONI WHITT, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines
Well kids, you soon will be able to climb the walls, look at the stars, check your heartbeat and use a television telephone all under one roof.
That's right, the Children's Museum of Virginia is set to open in the former Leggett store off High Street in just eight weeks. Robert P. Creecy, director of management services, told the City Council on Tuesday that the museum will open Dec. 10 - just in time for grandparents to take their Christmas visitors on tour.
A parade of exhibits are to be delivered this week through the new blue doors trimmed in pink and bright yellow at the back and side of the building.
Kites are already flying on the sides of the building and glass blocks in the shape of a cityscape decorate the facade. But there's still a huge gaping hole facing High Street, where the new atrium is yet to be hung.
The atrium threatened to delay the opening because it won't be completed until after the holidays, but city officials found a way to close off the second floor so that the main portion of the museum can be used.
``I don't care if we have to work 24-hours, night and day,'' City Manager V. Wayne Orton said last week.
``We're going to have the museum open on Dec. 10, even if I have to work on the exhibits myself.''
Betty Burnell, the museum director, recently gave the council a tour of the empty facility and described what will be in place for the kids come December.
Those exhibits include some pretty cool stuff, including an art gallery that will display children's workon refrigerator doors.
A rock-climbing exhibit and a ``tall crawl'' will allow children to cross oceans and scale mountains near a cloud covered ceiling, where they can look down on the museum's activities.
An exhibit on the human body will allow children to learn about flexibility, the heart and height. It also will allow children to explore such topics as substance abuse and sexuality and encourage them to make healthy lifestyle decisions.
Children will have a chance to play firefighter on a real fire engine, pretend to be a police officer on a motorcycle complete with a blue light and even operate a crane as they work on make-believe construction projects.
The museum will come complete with plenty of computers for an array of educational games.
And of course there will be the museum's mainstay: bubbles. Lots of bubbles.
The museum also will boast a 65-seat planetarium and a gallery for changing exhibits. Admission to the museum, including the planetarium, will be $3 per person - which also will cover access to the city's other museums and art gallery. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
MARK MITCHELL/Staff
George Armentrout works near the main entrance of Children's Museum
of Virginia in Portsmouth, which is set to open Dec. 10.
by CNB