A non-profit children's museum in Gainesville is hoping to re-open sometime in the Spring of 2019 after a fire and flood damaged many of its exhibits in September.
Mandy Volpe, Executive Director of Interactive Neighborhood for Kids, said the museum's board decided in November to temporarily open at the Chestnut Street location until a new building can be found. Since that decision was made, the museum has been working to get the building ready for visitors.
"We've been cleaning, we've been making new exhibits," Volpe said. "We've had a couple of volunteer days where the community has just shown up and showed off to help get us back on our feet."
The museum has remained closed after the September incident and Volpe said that parents have still been calling and visiting the Chestnut Street location hoping to come inside, only to find it closed. She said that helped motivate the decision to re-open the building as soon as possible after an early attempt to secure a new building fell through.
No specific date has been given for INK's re-opening and Volpe said the the museum is still hoping to find another building in the future.
"The dream is a bigger building, we're hoping to build it out big enough that that would be the long-term home," Volpe said.
In the meantime, she says work on getting the Chestnut Street building ready has gone well.
"I'd like to say we're ahead of schedule, but knock on wood," Volpe said.
She said they rely heavily on volunteers to help with the restoration work. Information on how to volunteer with INK can be found at the museum's website. Those interested can offer to work or donate to the museum.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2018/12/747012/interactive-neighborhood-for-kids-museum-preparing-for-spring-re-opening