My Newest Venture

Lately I have been working on something very special for our local community with my good friend Marcy. For those readers who don't know me "in real life", you may not realize that I live in what is considered "upstate" new york in a rather rural area about 100 miles north of New York City. We have lots of farms, tractor parades, and festivals in the warm summer months. But what we do not have here are any indoor play areas for children. Since six months of the year do not truly lend itself to outdoor play, we are left with very little to do with our children during these months. Cabin fever tends to set in early around these parts!

So Marcy and I have begun working on creating the Catskill Mountain Children's Museum. This is something that we feel would fill a desperate need in our area, as well as bring in more visitors to our town.

Although we are very excited to have started this process, by no means will this be an easy journey. The average time frame for a children's museum to open it's doors to the public from the beginning planning stages is around three years. But we sincerely feel that we are up to that challenge!

For the local readers in our area, what can you do in helping us make this idea into a reality? You can encourage us in our endeavor! You can also volunteer your time and talents. Do you have a specific area of expertise that you think might translate well into an interactive exhibit for young children? Are you able to help with construction of exhibits or lend artistic talents?

For all my readers, if you have taken a child to a children's museum recently please share with us their favorite experiences and even things they did not like.

We are currently working to develop a business plan and accurately access the funding we will need to not only get this up and running, but to make it self sustaining over the long term. We will then be looking for corporate sponsorships and grants as well as private donations. Fundraising will be a major key to getting this going, so help with events in the future will be appreciated!

So the purpose of this post is to spread the news, get the word out. If you are local, help us convey the need for such a resource in our community! Let us know what you think and if you would like to be involved in any capacity.