Wenatchee Museum Kicks Off Renovations With A Lively Farewell

The public is invited to visit the Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center one last time on Saturday before a two-year transformation gets underway.

Executive Director Mariah Thornock says the museum will close for major renovations, but a send-off including a groundbreaking ceremony and a full day of activities is planned.

Activities begin Saturday at 9am with a rummage sale of museum items, a salmon bake, food trucks, live entertainment, children's activities, guided museum tours, and one last performance of the historic pipe organ. The groundbreaking ceremony is at 11am on Saturday.

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The "Branching Out" initiative was hatched about five years ago when patrons' and visitors' feedback described the aging museum as difficult to access, having limited parking, and no longer suitable for modern museum exhibitions and programs.

"That's when we started saying how we can reimagine (the museum)," Thornock told KPQ. As a museum, we should be preserving these old buildings. How can we showcase that old buildings can be turned into something modern and accessible and still retain all of their character? That's what our project is attempting to do."

WATCH a 3-D Tour of the exciting renovations

About half of the estimated $30 million remodel has been pledged through local donations, with the balance from state and other grant sources.

During the renovations, services and programs will be offered at auxiliary locations, and a temporary gallery of rotating exhibits has opened at 30 South Mission Street in Wenatchee