WAYNESBORO — It's been six years in the making but the Blue Ridge Children's Museum is getting closer to opening a space to the public. All it needs is a major chunk of cash.

The idea first started in 2016. Then in 2017, the museum was awarded $10,000 by Grow Waynesboro, a program under the city’s economic development department, is focused on finding and funding new start-up businesses.

The museum needs to raise several hundred thousand dollars in order to tackle the interior of the building they occupy in Waynesboro.

Blue Ridge Children's Museum President and founder Karen Orlando dreamt up the idea for the museum after moving to the area from Massachusetts with her husband and two children.

Her family had access to a range of kid-friendly museums in their former home, and she was surprised that the closest options from this part of the Valley were in Harrisonburg and Charlottesville. As a former educator, museums have always been a huge part of her children's lives. 

The museum claimed its home in 2019. When COVID hit in 2020, they had to rethink things.

"Since COVID hit, our plans unfortunately derailed so we are working to open from the outside in," said Jeanette Atkins, marketing coordinator of the museum.

They've been holding different events and programs, partnering with other groups in the area. This summer, the museum partnered with Project GROWS and the Staunton City School Nutrition Program to hold Little GROWers Camp to explore the Project GROWS farm in Verona.

"We completed the Natural Playground, set up mutual events with organizations downtown such as Make Waynesboro Clay Studio, helped to put on summer camps with Project GROWS and the summer enrichment program through the Waynesboro YMCA," Atkins said.

The museum's exhibits will be tied to the local history and cultural experiences in the Blue Ridge Mountains and will focus on learning. The focus will be for ages birth to 9. Think science, literature, arts, engineering, technology, outdoors and more. 

The museum's spot at 201 Short St. in Waynesboro has a natural playground adjacent to it, which the museum built in 2021. They've finished painting three of the four exterior walls as of June. This month, there is a local muralist, Chico Lorenzo, that will be collaborating with children and families in the area for the fourth wall mural.

"We had a community mural workday last weekend and invited everyone to create artwork and depict themselves as a bug or a flower and Chico will paint their work as is onto the wall," Atkins said.

Lorenzo is expect to start painting in mid-September. His artwork will be in good company — surrounded by several other murals that have been painted thanks to the Virginia Street Art Festival. Lorenzo's work will be in addition to Richmond artist Nils Westergard's large mural depicting a woman on an abandoned factory building across the street from the museum and a duck mural by Terry Ward just around the corner.

The museum rents the building, which is owned by Jim Coate of Free Range Electric. Coate is on the board of directors for the museum.

The museum needs to reach its $250,000 goal in order to open, Atkins said. That's money they don't have right now, she said. Previously, the museum has fundraised and received grants before COVID, which were used to build from the outside in — like the natural playground.

Previous funds were used to paint the exterior of the building. The museum is using a grant from the Friends of the Blue Ridge to complete the final mural.

"Because of COVID and the rising material and construction costs, our production for the interior of the building and our overall capital campaign were put to a halt," Atkins said. "However, we have all plans ready. We need to raise $250,000. That is our golden number. With that money and the availability of a contractor, we are ready to renovate."

Atkins said there's no exact date of opening the physical location, it's all dependent on funds. For now, the museum continues to operate as a museum without walls.

More information can be found at blueridgechildrensmuseum.org.

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Laura Peters is the trending topics reporter at The News Leader. Have a news tip on local trends or businesses? Or a good feature? You can reach reporter Laura Peters (she/her) at lpeters@newsleader.com. Follow her @peterslaura. Subscribe to The News Leader at newsleader.com.