It was a pleasure to attend the Children’s Museum at Saratoga’s Grand Opening at their new location in the Lincoln Baths in the Saratoga Spa State Park! We were in great and abundant company among the founders of the museum, museum board members and donors, New York State Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation, Empire State Development, the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce, and representatives from state and local government, including Saratoga Springs Mayor Ron Kim, New York State Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner, and New York State Senator Daphne Jordan. After the ceremony, everyone toured the 16,000 SF property we’d renovated. This new location, designed by Envision Architects, will be the leading museum for children in the Capital Region. It also marks the first major public-facing operation in the Lincoln Bathhouse since the 1990s. The Children’s Museum occupies 3 of the original bathing wings with rebuilt and refurbished exhibits and new hands-on STEM exhibits. Among the exhibits are a grocery store with a register and fully functional scanner, a firehouse with an interactive screen for visitors to extinguish a virtual fire, and a farm where children can pick vegetables. There’s even a news station for visitors to record a news segment complete with a green screen and learn about how ice cream is made as they scoop bowlfuls at the ice cream parlor. Personally, our favorite is the treehouse (which we just so happened to donate), where children can learn about different animals. Universal accessibility was top of mind in the design, best showcased by a calming room that provides a quiet sensory space for children to decompress.
Read even more about the museum’s opening from these local press outlets:
The Daily Gazette
ESPN Radio 104.5 FM The Team
News10
Newchannel13
NYS Governor’s Office
The Saratogian
Spectrum News 1
Times Union
