SAULT STE. MARIE — The Soo Locks Children’s Museum recently received a number of exhibits to help complete renovations for the long-running project.
For almost 10 years, a group of community members has been raising funds, designing exhibits, gathering community support and renovating space to bring the museum to life.
The location of the future Soo Locks Children’s Museum in downtown Sault Ste. Marie.
The museum, which is based in downtown Sault only a block away from the Soo Locks, is intended to be an educational resource to help kids get acquainted with one of the most significant pieces of infrastructure in the U.P. and the science behind how the locks work.
While construction is still ongoing, museum officials said they hope to open to the public sometime in 2025.
Soo Locks Children’s Museum Board President Raquel Fernandez-Earns spoke with the Evening News about the recent updates:
Q: How did the Soo Locks Children’s Museum get started in the first place?
A: In 2016, it was determined that a museum in this area would serve a great need, our school district is the largest district in Michigan. We cover approximately 4,000 square miles and a nearly 30% child poverty rate, and there isn’t much in the way of healthy, safe, affordable recreation for our kids.
Q: What is the main purpose of the museum?
A: Our mission is to create an interactive environment that facilitates children’s curiosity and learning in science, technology, engineering, art and math. We know that there is a dire need to have our children have a place where they can engage socially, where they can learn cognitively. These are opportunities for healthy socialization, quality family time and we know that this museum would cater to all developmental levels.
The Soo Locks Children’s Museum board cuts the ribbon to begin demolition of the interior of the museum on April 3, 2023.
Q: How did you get these new exhibits?
A: This is very exciting for us. The Great Lakes Children’s Museum in Traverse City was moving to a new location, and they no longer had a need for their current exhibits as they were getting new ones. So we were fortunate enough to have them contact us to see if we were interested in these exhibits.
We have people that have donated the funds for these exhibits, Craig and Kathy Flickinger. We’re getting over $200,000 worth of exhibits for $8,000 thanks to them. They brought three truckloads of museum exhibits to the Sault.
There are 15 exhibits now, including wall displays of the Great Lakes where the shipwrecks are, maps navigating the Great Lakes, exhibits on invasive species and other fish species in the Great Lakes. These are really informational exhibits and they’re going to be very exciting for our kids, and they’re in great shape.
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Q: What are examples of exhibits you are currently working on building?
A: We have plans for a number of exhibits. One of the biggest is a very long water table that will span two rooms and one side of the water table is going to be science based. We’re going to have a miniature lock and all kinds of interactive parts that kids can engage with. They can experiment, they can build little boats and try them out in the water.
The other half is going to be the nature water table, and that side of the museum is going to be all nature based. That water exhibit will emulate the St. Marys River and it’s going to really highlight the indigenous history of this area, which spans thousands of years.
Q: Have you received much community support?
A: We’ve been really supported for our fundraisers. Our local community has donated so much in the way of silent auction prizes and other events. I think we’ve been able to establish some good relationships locally with businesses.
These organizations sort of come up to us and say, “Hey, we’ve decided we want to donate to your organization.” And that is really touching, because this is community wide, and it really means a lot to us and I think it speaks of the need that we have in this community for our kids.
— Contact Brendan Wiesner: BWiesner@Sooeveningnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Sault News: Q&A: Find out all about the Soo Locks Children’s Museum