Children's museum finds home

OREM — It will be the home of 250,000 Legos and every other building toy known to man. There will be a workshop, construction centers and hands-on displays teaching kids about bridges, plumbing and brick making.

And that's the beginning.

The Utah Valley Children's Museum for the past three years has languished in the idea stage. It moved closer to becoming real on Friday with an announcement of permission to use a warehouse for the project.

"It's a dream that is alive," said Terri Smith, a museum Board of Trustee member. "We want people to join in that dream and make it happen."

Smith, in her previous position as president of the Women's Division of the Provo/Orem Chamber of Commerce, tried to move forward with plans for a museum.

There were some road blocks, however, and the project got pushed aside.

Enter Aaron Campbell. An Orem native and a children's museum devotee, Campbell and his family recently moved back to Orem and started working to get a museum for families.

Campbell worked with the trustee board to secure a place for the museum — a building at 340 S. Orem Blvd.

"Every great vision requires a spark," said David Runnells, marketing director of Midtown Village, which owns the space. "We'd like to help today ignite that spark."

Runnells presented Smith with a giant check for $360,000 — the in-kind donation for a three-year use of the building, which is being called Kidtown Village.

The museum, optimistically scheduled to open this fall, will be a place where families can strengthen relationships as they learn about how things work, Campbell said.

During the first phase — and to tie in with the construction project across the street — the museum will focus on the construction industry. Booths and hands-on displays will teach kids about how buildings are constructed and allow them to try to make their own with myriad blocks and construction materials.

Different construction companies are funding the exhibits and showing kids what it means to be an engineer or a construction foreman.

After the three years, the Utah Valley Children's Museum will pack up and look for a new home. By that time, it will have hopefully become self-sufficient, proven it is a good steward of the funds entrusted to it and discovered exactly what families want in a museum, Campbell said.

The entry price will be less than a movie ticket — around $4.50 or $5 per person — so as to make the exhibits accessible to students or families with young children, Campbell said.

Many who spoke on Friday commented on the need for such a museum in Utah County.

Orem Mayor Jerry Washburn recalled that in Orem's history, fruit had been the No. 1 resource, but as the city has grown, that has changed.

"What's Orem's most important resource now?" he asked. "Our most important resource now is our children, who have grown up here with a set of values, then leave . . . and make a huge difference in the world."

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