There was a special delivery for the Soo Locks Children's Museum Tuesday morning.
Three big exhibits, along with a few smaller displays, were transported from the Great Lakes Children's Museum (GLCM) in Traverse City to Sault Ste Marie via three semi-trucks. A freighter, a lighthouse, a Coast Guard and other Great Lakes-themed exhibits were unloaded into the old Lynn's Auto Parts building on Portage Ave. until they are permanently relocated to the SLCM in 2025.
The GLCM was in the process of moving to a new location and offered the exhibits at a great price of $8,000, which could not be passed up.
SLCM Board President Raquel Fernande-Earns was excited to see the trucks pull into the parking lot and the exhibits get unloaded.
"We have been working on this since August or September. They contacted us about them not being able to use these exhibits anymore because they were moving and could not use them anymore. We were coordinating with them to see what they had. Kathy Flickinger came along and we visited the place. We were like kids in a candy shop," Fernandez-Earns chuckled.
Once construction is complete in the 223 W. Portage Ave. site where the SLCM is located, the exhibits will have to be dismantled, moved, and then reassembled.
"We are excited because we can have move-in ready exhibits once the construction is done. We are closing the bid on that so the construction should be coming pretty soon. Once that happens, we can move these pieces in and have something for our kids. We got some beautiful exhibits. It's hard to believe they were in a children's museum for so many years because they do look great. What's cool is that the exhibits are already themed with what our museum is about," Fernandez-Earns said.
The cost of the exhibits was picked up by Dr. Craig and Kathy Flickinger.
"My daughter, Ashley, is a board member at SLCM and put out an appeal to purchase these wonderful exhibits and thought that I would be interested. I had some money gifted to me from my parents and she thought that would be a nice legacy from them," Kathy said.
Fernandez-Earns said the cost of everything they just received would be around $100,000 if purchased brand new.
The $2 million project is expected to be open in late summer or early fall 2025.
