A museum in Lackawanna County is seeing a resurgence as new exhibits are bringing in visitors from across the world.<\/p>\n
SCRANTON, Pa. \u2014 The building still looks the same on the outside as cars drive through Nay Aug Park in Scranton, but the inside of the Everhart Museum is filled with new exhibits that have drawn in record-breaking numbers.<\/p>\n
“We’ve been watching the number tick up, and we’ve been very excited about watching it happen, so we made it a point to capture when the people came in, our 10,000 visitors, we had balloons waiting, and we gave them a little gift bag and annual membership, so it was a lot of fun to do it,” said Tim Holmes, Everhart Museum CEO.<\/p>\n
Tim Holmes has served as the CEO of the Everhart for more than two years, and with the help of curator James Lansing and other staff, he says they’ve been able to transform a once-struggling site into a worldwide attraction.<\/p>\n
“We have people from Israel and England, and France, and we were one state short a couple of weeks ago, and the one state that we were missing was Alaska and we got word to the governor of Alaska, who happened to grow up in Scranton, who was in town that weekend, so he came by to check the 50th state off the list for us,” said Holmes.<\/p>\n
“This is actually from the Space shuttle and International Space Station, and this is one of his NASA helmets. We’re going to have him sign that next time he comes back for sure,” said James Lansing, Everhart Museum Curator.<\/p>\n
Whether it is a trip through space on a walk through the NASA exhibit or a look deeper into Scranton’s favorite TV show, The Office, staff rely on popular pieces and revolving local artists to get people through the doors.<\/p>\n
“School groups in particular who come both in the fall and the springtime, they get to experience a whole new museum twice a year, which was uncommon previously before, so I think that is helping, along with all the free accessibility that we are providing to get people in our door,” said Camille Dantone, Everhart Museum Director of Education.<\/p>\n
It is a lot of work applying for grants and acquiring donations to keep things going strong, but it is work that staff say they are willing to do.<\/p>\n
“We’re tapping at everything we can, but we still need the support that this community has always supported this institution,” said Holmes.<\/p>\n
This summer, Holmes and Lansing are looking forward to celebrating America250 and our area’s ties to the growth of the nation.<\/p>\n
“It was Dr. Everhart’s mission to bring in the entire community and get the word out about some great things happening in Scranton. So I think we’re living up to the original mission of,” said Holmes.<\/p>\n