Children's museum planned in Gainesville

GAINESVILLE - Organizers hope to open a children's museum in Gainesville this fall.

Sheri Hooper, the founder, says it will be patterned after a children's museum she visited in San Antonio, Texas, two years ago.

"Many times we go in museums and there are places that we can look but there's never any touching involved," Hooper said. "In this museum, we could actually touch...each and every object in there."

The Gainesville museum will be an interactive facility - meaning visitors will be encouraged to touch and interact with the displays.

Hooper says it will feature a scaled-down, version of a small town.

She says youngsters, ages 2-to-12, will be able to pretend to be a grocer, banker, and radio announcer, among other things.

Hooper says her children thoroughly enjoyed the children's museum they visited in San Antoniio.

"We actually spent two days in this place," she said. "It was so wonderful. The kids enjoyed it and we had a great time"

The museum will be located in The Arts Council Community Arts Complex in the old First Methodist Church/Westminster Presbyterian Church building downtown.

It will be called Interactive Neighborhood for Kids, Inc.

Hooper and her board of directors are embarking on a fundraising campaign. They need also need volunteers and furnishings such as park benches, a hospital bed, and, cafe tables and chairs.

Hooper can be reached at 770-540-6582 or [email protected].