Blue Ridge Children’s Museum in Waynesboro making its mark downtown

WAYNESBORO, Va. (WHSV) - Saturday morning in Waynesboro, kids began leaving their mark downtown.

The Blue Ridge Children’s Museum is looking to finish painting the final side of its exterior, but they wanted this wall to be different.

“We’ve painted the other three sides of the building, and we’ve left this side for the children in the community to paint together,” Karen Orlando, founder, and president of the Blue Ridge Children’s Museum said.

Kids drew pictures of flowers and bugs that will be turned into a mural on the fourth wall of the building.

The idea came from an unlikely source.

Murals can be seen on many buildings in this part of Waynesboro, just like the one next door to the children’s museum, which was used as inspiration for the final wall of the museum.

“The beautiful large mural in the back, we are including that. The flowers in his mural gave us the idea of oh let’s get more flowers and then bugs and flowers,” Chicho Lorenzo, the muralist painting this wall said.

The Blue Ridge Children’s Museum has been building from the ground up.

They are a non-profit still looking to finish up its brick-and-mortar building, but after setbacks from COVID, Orlando decided to do things differently.

“Instead of working on the building inside out, we’re working outside in because we wanted to get the program going as soon as possible for these families of young children,” Orlando said.

The outside has a playground and garden for children to enjoy while the inside of the building finishes up.

Lorenzo is set to make the paintings come to life in the first half of September and will be done in about a month. He said submissions are welcomed until the last day he paints.

“It’s about sharing enthusiasm, sharing the joy of art and so, therefore, the joy of life,” Lorenzo said.

Orlando says she is thankful to Friends of the Blue Ridge and all the community sponsors and help for funding this and other projects for the museum.

She said they are in need of donations as the prices of things for the museum have gone up.

If you would like to donate to the Blue Ridge Children’s Museum or submit a drawing of your own visit them on Facebook and Instagram.

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