Explore More Discovery Museum works to complete construction for annual fundraising event

Explore More Discovery Museum in downtown Harrisonburg is finishing up its third floor under a tight deadline.

The third floor is called the Community Education Center and it is quickly coming together in time for the museum's major fundraiser, Night at the Museum, on November 15, 2019. Lisa Shull, the executive director for the museum, said money from that fundraiser makes up much of the museum's annual operations funds.

"It looks like an empty beautiful room, but when it's complete, there's going to be all kinds of great activity happening here," said Shull.

Sustainable Solutions is doing the construction, and has donated the general contracting portion of the work to give back to the community.

"This should be a 14 or 15-week project, and we're going to complete it in about eight weeks, so it's been challenging to say the least, but we're working with terrific trade partners," said Danny Rohrer, who is a partner at Sustainable Solutions.

"They've really done an amazing job in giving the contribution not just to the museum, but to the community and the children, and we couldn't have done it without them," said Shull.

The third floor will offer 7,000 feet of open space to host field trips, camps and programs with an open forum classroom. It will also offer a teaching kitchen where the museum plans to host culinary classes to teach children about nutrition and other cooking classes.

The staff at the museum will also have its own office suite and break room for the first time since they moved into the building in 2010.

"There are a lot of great charities and organizations in Harrisonburg, but we feel that this is one of the best run in Harrisonburg, and our donation of time and effort here we know will pay dividends," said Rohrer.

Shull said this is another chapter as it continues to grow and serve the community.