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CHILDREN’S MUSEUM OF DENVER AT MARSICO CAMPUS UNVEILS EXPANSION By Jennifer Turner Visiting the Children’s Museum of Denver is about to get even more fun. On November 20, the museum celebrated it’s grand re-opening with a 14,000 sq. ft. expansion that nearly doubles the buildings exhibit
space. The project is the culmination of seven years of work, and has also grown the Museum’s overall indoor and outdoor footprint to nine acres. It will likely put Denver on the map as one of the premier cities for children’s museums in the United States
Young artists have fun building clay sculptures in the 2300 sq ft Art Studio, part of the new expansion at Children’s Museum of Denver at Marsico Campus. PHOTO BY JENNIFER TURNER
TRAINS ROLL ON: ADDITIONAL RTD LIGHT RAIL ROUTES OPENING SOON
By Keith Lewis Denver’s public transit authority, Regional Transportation District (RTD) is rapidly expanding and commuters are rejoicing. In 2016, RTD plans to open four new light rail lines, including the long awaited A-line from downtown Denver to the airport. In 2004, Denver voters approved the largest transit expansion in the country. The expansion is known as FasTracks and plans to eventually blanket the city and suburbs, adding to Denver’s already impressive transit system. The year 2016 will see lots of changes to make your commute smoother, wherever you travel around town. Here is the timeline of new routes that are opening: January 2016 will see the opening of express bus service between Union Station and Boulder, with a bus departing every fifteen minutes in each direction. Line A, running from
and set the bar higher on educational programming. The expansion capital campaign raised over $16.1 million. It was funded by a variety of sources including the Cydney and Tom Marsico Family Foundation, the Colorado Health Foundation and corporate partners including Encana Oil & Gas (USA) Inc., United Launch Alliance, Delta Dental and Denver Water. The venture is unusual in that all the design and planning was done in-house and identical exhibits are non-existent. The end result is truly spectacular, and is a collaboration of the museum’s senior leadership, employees, community partners, prominent early childhood education specialists and the kids themselves. Jonathan Goldstein, Director of Exhibits, said, “Designing and building the new Children’s Museum of Denver at Marsico Campus has truly been the experience of a lifetime for our entire museum team. The exhibits team, especially, has gotten to imagine a one-of-a-kind museum and then see it through to the finish. We are honored to be a part of building a better Denver and a better future for our children.” One of the amazing new exhibits, and highly appropriate for Colorado, is “Altitude,” a indoor climbing experience like no other. Constructed of steel platforms, girders and beams, and covered with maple panels and a wire mesh net for safety, Altitude rises 3½ stories from the ground floor of the museum. As kids and parents maneuver vertically and laterally through the exhibit they encounter clouds, a swinging gondola and rope bridges. Those who make it to the glass-enclosed, ice-capped summit will be rewarded with amazing 360 degree views of downtown Denver and the Rocky Mountains to the west. Shoes suitable for climbing and comfortcontinued on page 30
downtown to DIA, will carry commuters the length of the line in 37 minutes. The A-line also brings new train service to the up-and-coming neighborhoods of River North, Cole, Elyria-Swansea, Clayton, North Park Hill, Stapleton, Morris Heights, Gateway, Montbello and Green Valley Ranch. April 22 will be the maiden voyage for the long anticipated A-line. Summer 2016 will connect Westminster to downtown Denver with the B-line. The G-line opens in Fall 2016 to connect Wheat Ridge to downtown, and Winter 2016 will see the opening of the R-line that will connect Nine Mile Station to the A-line (essentially tracking I-225). "It will be the first time we've opened five lines in one year," says Tina Jaquez, an RTD spokesperson. "[2016] is going to be continued on page 30