Central Savings Bank (CSB) presented a $15,000 check to Soo Locks Children’s Museum.
“We feel the museum is very important to the community and we wanted to be a part of that,” said CSB CEO and President Mark Savoie. “It is important to bring in tourists and get them excited. It's also great that we can have our local children involved to learn things about different occupations at the museum.”
CSB Marketing Director Andrea Masters said the check was originally written out in 2020, but COVID prevented an official face-to-face offering. Soo Locks Children's Museum Board President Raquel Fernandez-Earns accepted the $15,000 donation.
The Soo Locks Children’s Museum is currently at $150,000 of its $1.5 million goal. Donations and volunteers are needed to help achieve that goal.
“We are hoping to get a grant from the state, but we’re not sure on that one,” Fernandez-Earns said about a Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) Michigan Arts and Culture Council (MACC) grant. “It's a match grant. We are asking for $82,000 and we will match that.”
The children’s museum will be launching an upcoming patronicity campaign to bring residents and sponsors together in support of its initiative.
“We've made over $1,300 dollars so far, just on that face painting,” Fernandez-Earns said. “We're going to continue having that presence in the community. We will be at Riverfest. We're hoping to have a Halloween house and open it for Christmas.”
The Halloween house will not be a “haunted house” per se. Fernandez-Earns does not want to scare the little ones. The museum will be open for costumes and fun interactive games.
Fernandez-Earns hopes to open the museum during Riverfest, but needs volunteers to make it happen.
The children's museum board is at Chippewa County Project Backpack today to pass out stickers and paint rocks with kids.
Soo Locks Children’s Museum has already received an estimate for its demolition project, which will combine its current building on W. Portage with the one next to it.
“I know that once that happens people will be incentivized to get the exhibits funded,” said Fernandez-Earns. “The community has been supportive beyond what any of us could have expected. We have been getting big donations from our community members, financial institutions, and Central Savings Bank is helping to put us on the map. We really appreciate that.”
The museum’s board has been putting its feelers out in search of more funding to include freighter companies.
“Children will be able to experience the Soo Locks in their own way,” said Fernandez-Earns. “Of course, the freighters are massive and watching them come through the locks is an experience beyond words for a lot of kids and adults. When our museum exhibitors came they were fascinated by the locks. It really helped motivate them to design our exhibits.”
The goal is to have interactive exhibits available for children to learn about boat building. Kids would be able to run the boats through their own little lock systems to learn about how things work. The hope is to inspire future boat builders of the area.
“I believe it all starts during childhood,” Fernandez-Earns said. “You hear stories so often about people having that one experience when they were young that drove them into their careers. It’s an opportunity for kids to follow their childhood dreams.”
Fernandez-Earns looks to have the Soo Locks Children’s Museum up and running by late 2023 into early 2024.
“Kokosing (Alberici) is going to be making a donation,” said Fernandez-Earns. “We don't know what that's going to be yet. They're offering their engineers and carpenters.”
Kokosing engineers want the exhibits to be of military grade or better.
“We already have $28,000 dollars that donors have allocated specifically for exhibits,” Fernandez-Earns said. “So, that's a wonderful start.”
The museum was open to the public for bi-weekly Artoons, but not enough people offered their help to keep it going.
“We need volunteers and people to help staff so that we can open and have activities,” said Fernandez-Earns. “We need the volunteers right now. This is your chance to make a big difference in our community. This is also your chance to provide some foundational and important activities for kids that really need it in our community. They need to break away from the usual. Parents also need to take breaks. They need a place to take their kids and volunteers can help make that happen.”
Fernandez-Earns would like to open museum doors to birthday party parties and related events. Again, volunteers are needed to make anything happen.
The Soo Locks Children's Museum is located at 223 W. Portage Ave. Sault Ste. Marie, MI.
Visit the Soo Locks Children’s Museum website at slcmkids.org to learn how you can get involved.
