ST. JOHNSBURY, Vt. (WCAX) – It was a big weekend for Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium.
“We finally opened our Tang Science Annex. We’ve been waiting for this for a long time,” Anna Rubin of Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium said.
This is the first addition to the museum since 1895 and it did not disappoint.
“We really like the build-it lab that was upstairs, they have a lot of different things up there – they have magnet tiles,” East Haven resident Kristina Sheehan said.
Rubin says this natural history museum was established to serve as an educational and cultural center for the people of St. Johnsbury.
“It’s fulfilled that purpose for over 130 years, it’s a center of education as well as a place that people can come over and over again and experience new things,” she said.
“It’s really great you know we hadn’t seen the whole addition yet but we especially like the new dinosaur exhibit that up on the top and they’re playing right now with some of the hands on models which is so great to have available because these kids are always wanting to touch things and put their hands on things and that really helps cement whatever learning option there is,” Ryegate resident Anna Morrison said.
Morrison isn’t a stranger to this museum.
“We’re actually frequent Fairbanks visitors, my kids like to come and see the new exhibits and we knew they had just put on the annex and opened it so we were anxious to kind of come and see what the new exhibits were and they had been asking to come and it’s a really good opportunity especially on a cold February day where maybe we don’t want to spend as much time outside but we’d like to get out of the house,” she said.
Rubin says it was rewarding to see their hard work pay off.
“It is such a thrill, it’s really something we’ve been working towards for a long time to be able to offer some interactive stations to have a space where people can do some more discovery hands on,” Rubin said.
And even though she’s been working here for years, Rubin is still learning each and every day.
“It’s an amazing place and I think what astounds me is that every time I come here, I discover something new whether it’s the expression of children as they’re discovering as they’re playing here or something new in the exhibits that I hadn’t noticed before,” Rubin said.
It is the only public planetarium in the state.
