St. Cloud Times

By Teagan King 

U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., visited the Great River Children's Museum Friday, June 6, ahead of its opening next.

Executive Director Cassie Miles and the museum's team gave the senator a tour of the new space, where she talked with some of the donors, played with the water exhibit and made "s'mores" over a pretend campfire.

Klobuchar said she believes the museum will help fill a need in St. Cloud for activities for families, while also supporting more activity downtown.

"The people of St. Cloud deserve a place for families to go that's just like this," Klobuchar said. "It was smart how they took an existing building and looked at museums all over the country and came up with a thing that worked for St. Cloud."

The children's museum, which opens June 10, was a $17 million project, according to the museum's website. It will employ about 25 to 30 people and anticipates seeing 130,000 guests annually.

While at the museum, the senator said she also believes St. Cloud has the right ingredients for growth of its downtown, and she plans to continue supporting its small businesses.

"We're helping with small business loans and the like, and I think that every ingredient is here, there's employment, there's a university, there's families," she said.

Miles said the museum can be a useful tool to help support children's learning before they enter grade school.

The museum will also drive business and employment, she said, while helping create a sense of community.

"We have wonderful industry in central Minnesota that needs to be supported from the employment side, by amenities, by things that bring joy," Miles said. "We don't want to be a stepping stone for people; we want to be a place where people set down roots and are really proud to call home, and I think the Children's Museum is a big part of that."

The children's museum opens Tuesday, and it will host a grand opening June 20 to 22, which will feature food trucks and extra activities outside. Tickets for timed museum entry can be purchased at the GRCM's website.