WILTON— The Western Maine Play Museum in Wilton celebrated its first year anniversary this August with its doors closed to the public due to the coronavirus pandemic. With renovations and new protocols, the museum will reopen today, September 16 on a limited capacity basis.

“They can’t wait to go back,” museum member Nicole Van Tassel said in a phone interview, about her five kids. “We actually just found out that they’re reopening and we can’t wait to reserve a day.” 

Executive Director Joni James said that it was especially difficult to close the museum after just six months of being open because visitor counts were higher than initial projections.

“We’ve had way better than expected visitor counts from all over the state. People would be here on vacation and find us and come visit,” James said.

To open the museum to the public again, a slew of changes were incorporated that included altering exhibits, establishing rigorous cleaning procedures and installing new air filters in the heating and air conditioning system. The Play Museum also had to wait for Franklin County to enter Phase 2 of Governor Mills reopening plan and then wait for additional guidance from the Association of Children’s Museums.

“We definitely want to reassure the people that are going to be potentially buying tickets ahead of time to come here that when they come here, the place is going to be clean, all of the circuits that kids are going to be playing with will be cleaned and disinfected,” Board President Marylena McDermott Chaisson said.

All tickets must be reserved in advance and visitor capacity is capped at nine people a day with 3 hours to explore the different themed sections such as the magnet room or the train room. James will welcome visitors and act as the designated disinfector of the exhibits.

“I’m happy to be a jack of all trades and be here with helping visitors, doing the cleaning and whatever needs to be done to offer that to our visitors,” James said. 

Masks will be required for ages 5 and up and recommended for ages 2 and up. The museum is also reminding visitors to self-monitor for a fever or any symptoms before arriving.

While redesigning exhibit space to meet Maine’s Center for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines, the Play Museum Board of Directors also had to make the decision to demolish the building’s historic carriage house that is not currently up to code.

“We know that some people are really nostalgic about it and are going to be disappointed. We have board members who are disappointed,” Chaisson said. “This wasn’t an easy decision for our board to make, but we’re doing what’s  most financially responsible and will serve the programming over the long-term the best.”

The museum is unable to utilize the carriage house without investing in major renovations, including a fire suppression system that must be installed within a year.

“There’s retaining wall issues in the basement. There’s pretty significant mold problems, there’s the need to bring it up to code which would require a dry sprinkler system that in itself would cost $35,000 plus yearly maintenance fees, and that’s just to get the building to continue standing,” Chaisson said.

To stay afloat during the pandemic, the Play Museum applied for and received funds from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL), both of which restrict money from going towards renovations.

With an encroaching timeline to address the carriage house’s code violations, the Board voted to remove the structure and replace it with a pavilion for future events and programming. The building of the pavilion also has a deadline since the Play Museum is located in close proximity to Wilson Stream. To secure the grandfathered space, construction of a new structure on top of the existing foundation must begin within a year.

Materials will be salvaged and repurposed from the carriage house demolition and used for residing the Play Museum while other items such as windows will be sold.

Tassel supported the museum’s decision, but she pointed out that she is a Turner resident and does not have the close ties to the architecture of the building that Wilton residents might have.

“Any change that can include options for kids’ safety, I think it’s fantastic. I’m a fan of if it needs to be removed so that kids can have extra space to play safely, that’s a positive in my opinion,” she said.

The Western Maine Play Museum, located at 561 Main Street in Wilton, is open 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday. Tickets must be reserved in advance by calling (207) 645-3555 or visiting the museum’s website at http://www.westernmaineplay.org/.

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