Theresa Bourke / Brainerd Dispatch
Peter Olson, project director for the WonderTrek Children’s Museum, shows plans for museum’s treehouse while conducting a tour of the grounds in Baxter for community members Tuesday.
BY THERESA BOURKE – BRAINERD DISPATCH
BAXTER — No longer just a concept, the WonderTrek Children’s Museum is taking shape in Baxter.
Museum Project Director Peter Olson took a group of community members through the muddy, snowy woods on Tuesday, April 7, to show off the progress on the multi-million dollar project.
“It’s a wonderful feeling to see other people on the campus, visualizing it with me and seeing their reactions,” Olson said. “It’s very rewarding to see other people catch the excitement for this.”
That excitement started as a pipe dream about a decade ago, dreamed up by Sourcewell CEO Chad Coauette in 2015. Sourcewell has since donated $5 million to the project, which ceremoniously broke ground in July and is now a full-blown construction site as crews prepare the 9 acres of land off Highway 371 for the anticipated fall opening.
The 2,500-square-foot adventure outfitter studio is the focal point of the project, serving as the first stop for visitors to the museum. Large glass garage doors will launch adventurers into the outdoors after equipping them with discovery packs full of cameras, field guides and other kid-friendly tools to further enjoyment.
The farther away kids get from the studio building, the wilder the fun becomes. At the biggest intersection of the Robert and Rachel Nystrom Trail System will sit an elaborate treehouse, with five platforms 36 feet up in the air. Designed for children of all ages and abilities, the treehouse will be wheelchair accessible and promises a daring adventure for even the smallest visitors.
“The youngest will be able to start by testing their bravery to get up to the first platform when they’re 18 months old,” Olson said. “By the time they’re a couple months older, they’re getting up to the next one. By the time they’re 3, I bet they’re getting probably all the way up to the top — even if they don’t know how to get back down.”
Continuing down the winding path through the trees lies the Roots and Rigging exhibit, with partially built riggings that will encourage kids to keep building onto them. A horizontal zipline will allow children to transport their materials — and potentially their little siblings, Olson joked — across the area, making for fun, physical challenges.
“It’s really based off — how do children play when they’re left up to their own devices in the woods?” Olson said of the Roots and Rigging area. “And how do we support them?”
A nearby mound of dirt stands ready for kids to cruise down after building their own sleds. One of WonderTrek’s signature programs, Olson explained, is Slide! Design Your Own Ride, where play workers show up with different materials like cardboard, tarps, staplers and vinyl materials that allow kids to build and test out their own sleds.
“We’re creating the perfect size test hill,” Olson said.
Theresa Bourke / Brainerd Dispatch
Peter Olson, project director for the WonderTrek Children’s Museum, shows plans for the museum while conducting a tour of the grounds in Baxter for community members Tuesday.