February 8, 2025 • 12 mins
Children's museums are a great place for kids and adults to thrive, learn, and play, but you often find them in larger cities - not so much in smaller towns. That's changing in Franklin, as two mothers who have been friends for years are making moves to open up the Children's Museum of Franklin, promising interactive exhibits, imaginative play, and much more. Co-Founders Meg Hagen and Erin Gallagher share all the details with Nichole on this week's show, and also discuss ways the community can contribute to help open the doors within the next few months.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
FROMMTYBZ News Radio in Boston. This is New England Weekend
where each and every week we come together right here
we talk about all the topics important to you and
the place where you live. It is great to be
back with you again this week. I'm Nicole Davis. Listen.
I'm a grown adult and I still love taking the
kids in my life to the children's museums in Boston
and otherwise. It's not just because they have a great time,
(00:28):
even though that's important, but it's because many years after
I was a child, every time we go, I still
have a great time as well with all the exhibits
and toys. Now, oftentimes you find children's museums in larger cities.
But now, thanks to two local moms with a plan,
a new children's museum is getting ready to open in
the town of Franklin. Let's learn all about it now.
(00:49):
Meg Hagen and Aaron Gallagher are here to share their story.
There the co founders of the Children's Museum of Franklin.
Great to have you both here on the show. And
you know, Meg, how did this become an idea in
the first place.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Yeah, So it's a kind of a bit of a
funny story. So, Erin and I have been friends for
about seven years since we both moved to the area,
and we both separately had this idea that we wanted
to open this children's museum in Franklin. There was a school,
an elementary school in Franklin that was closing down and
is now closed, and we both sort of had a
vision of the museum being something that would be a
(01:23):
great fit for a spot like that in downtown Franklin.
It's not where the museum has ended up. But even
though we had our separate vision, we never talked about it.
Even though we talk almost daily. We have kids the
same age, We're together quite frequently, and we happened to
be at a brunch with a mutual friend one day
and the conversation came up about the school and what
(01:44):
was happening to it, and Aaron started sharing, you know,
what was happening with the school, and I'm sitting there
quietly thinking, why is Aaron following what's happening with the school,
because I've been following what's happening with the school, and
then she all of a sudden says, you know, I've
had this wild idea I'd love to open a children's
museum there, and I dropped the work in my hand
and said, you have to be kidding me.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
So we laughed.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
We came up with a couple off the cup ideas
and then changed the subject so we wouldn't scare off
our new friends with being too crazy. But then we
walked out the door and we're rebuckling our two little
guys in the car and looked at each other and said,
let's really do this, And that was the start of
Children's Museum of Franklin.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
That is such a cool idea. It's like synchronicity, right,
you know, you've got somebody in your life where you're
just like on the same wavelength. But I guess some
people would ask Aaron why Franklin, Like we've got a
children's museum in Boston. Why Franklin specifically?
Speaker 3 (02:36):
So, my family moved to Franklin from Boston now closing
in on seven years ago. We had a one and
a half year old and a newborn in a third
floor apartment and a dog, and we needed to get
out of the air, but also to find some community
for our family. And I mean I met Mega my
(02:57):
second day in town, and community was the goal. And
we found that here and this town has been an
amazing place for our kids to grow up. Thinking about
bringing a space into this community where people can connect,
where families can learn together, where you know, education can
(03:19):
really flourish from a young age felt like such a
good fit for a town that we've grown to love
so much. But also having brought our own kids to
a lot of children's museums over the last eight years,
there is not an option that's close by Franklin. It's
(03:39):
really a day to you know, you have to dedicate
a day to driving to a museum that's closing in
on an hour away in any given direction. So we
felt like Franklin was a really good space for an
interactive play space like this, somewhere that was kind of
(04:01):
skipped over on the map for children's enrichment opportunities.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Yeah, so, what is the process like of putting together
a children's museum. I've never done this, Meg, so tell
me you've got this idea. You two said, all right,
we're going to do this. What has the process been like?
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Yeah, so, I mean basically of starting a small business
in general. So we wrote our business plan, we did
our market research, and Zaron said we thought it was
a great organization for this community, but we wanted to
make sure that we were being thorough in our thought
process that this could be a successful organization for this community.
So our market research did tell us that it was
in line with that. We applied for our five to
(04:41):
one C three status and put together our board of directors,
so we have seven people on our board of directors
who have been integral in establishing the Children's Museum of Franklin.
And then with our excitement of wanting to bring these
educational opportunities in this learning through play education to the community,
we we decided we were going to launch a mobile museum,
(05:03):
and this was also an opportunity to kind of test
the waters make sure that our market research is correct
that there was actually appetite for an organization like this
in the community. So we received our five oh one
C three approval the end of December twenty twenty three,
and in January of twenty twenty four, we launched our
mobile museum. So we bring about nine different exhibit spaces
that fill up approximately a six thousand square foot space,
(05:26):
so sort of think a large gymnasium at a school,
and we rotate around different locations such as school gymnasiums.
We've been to public libraries and a few other facilities,
Downtown Sports, Patriot Place, and we've been having, you know,
with this mobile museum, three to six hundred people at
(05:46):
each of our events. They have been wildly attended and
it's been an incredible success. The joy and the fun
and the learning that we see at all of these
events has been has been huge. So most of the events,
like I said, had you know, five six hundred people
on average, and I think after the third one erin
and I looked at to each other and he said,
we need a physical space. We need to be able
(06:08):
to bring this to the community on a permanent basis,
not just you know, once or twice a month. So
we at that point then reached out to our a
developer in town who we've been working with, who is
really passionate about downtown Franklin as well and his vision
for you know, the success of downtown Franklin, which really
aligns with ours as well and what we want to
bring to the community. And Camper Property Group and Brad
(06:31):
Schaffee's the head of that, and we called Brad and
had a coffee with him and said, look, we need
a space. So we started kind of throwing around ideas
of what could work, and he had the opportunity to
acquire what is was an agway. It was the Franklin
Agway one fifty seven con Distreet in Franklin. So that
happened in May of twenty twenty four and since then
(06:53):
we've gone through all of the rest of building up
the space and working with architects and different to design
a thoughtful, intentional, exciting floor plan in space for kids
to come and learn through, play.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
Wow and erin. When all this is done, Agway aside,
you've got this beautiful museum. When the doors open, what
will people be able to do and enjoy?
Speaker 3 (07:18):
So we have incorporated within the space twelve different exhibit
areas everything from gross motor to healthy Hearts, healthy Bodies,
a financial literacy section, and then some museum classics like
water and imaginative play and train tables and all the
(07:41):
things that go with that. The exhibits are primarily designed
for children about ten and under, all the way down
to the real littles. We'll have outside space as well
to be able to get out, have a little fresh air,
play outside, and then in addition to that, we have
a fully built out lab and classroom space and the
(08:03):
back of the building where we'll offer programming for elementary
and middle school aged kids. You know, there have been
a lot of cuts to education in the last I
mean number of years really that have impacted you know,
what our kids are able to learn in elementary and
middle school clubs that are available, and we are hopeful
(08:26):
that in this space we'll be able to fill some
of those gaps in educational programming for those kiddos. In
addition to that, we will offer leadership and development opportunities
for high school students coming into the space, as well
as internship experiences for college students. So we'll really be
able to reach the full breadth of the education system
(08:48):
all under this one roof, which is very exciting.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
That is so cool. I am really imagining something that
everybody can enjoy, and unfortunately that costs a lot of
money to put together. So Meg, tell me about what
it's been like trying to get the capital you've needed
and get the support you've needed to get this done.
Has it been easy? Have you had any roadblocks so far?
Speaker 2 (09:11):
I will say I don't think anything about fundraising is
necessarily easy.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
But fair, okay, And you.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
Know it's new for us, for both Aaron and I,
you know, the fund raising game here, but this community
has truly wrapped its arms around us. It has been incredible.
We have three different basic arms of fundraising that we're
looking at, and our largest arm has been our grassroots
fundraising and the support that we've received from individuals in
this community has truly been incredible and that's what got
(09:37):
our mobile museum off the ground and that's been a
large chunk of what we've been able to pull together
to be able to work towards opening our doors here.
We additionally have a corporate sponsorship program, our Corporate Curiosity Champions,
and we've had success with quite a few local organizations
supporting us through that. Through that arm as well, and
then as IVO one C three were eligible for a
(09:58):
lot of different grands, so we've had and success with
some local grants through Mass Cultural Council, the Franklin Cultural Council,
and Franklin Cultural District, Bjay's ABBEMA. We've have, you know,
a list of of grants that we've had success with.
So it's been certainly a team effort and we still
have always to go with our fundraising to be able
to open our doors. But we've had some great success
(10:21):
thus far.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Wow. So where are you at right now in the process,
I mean, between the fundraising, between the building. What's your
timeline here for opening things up?
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (10:31):
So right now we it all continues on its current trajectory.
We should be opening the end of April or early
in May this year, so it's really coming up quickly.
Right now, the building is fully under construction.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
I understand.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
We should have walls next week, which is very exciting. Okay, wow,
very exciting. So once that internal you know based construction's done,
our exhibits will start coming into the space, you know,
kind of in that late March to early April timeframe,
and we'll quickly get to the point where we can
(11:12):
open our doors.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Wow. Okay. So if people want to follow along with
your journey, maybe they want to donate, maybe they want
to get involved and I don't know, contribute to an
exhibit in some way, just talk with you about how
you can get this going Meg, How can they get
in touch with you?
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Absolutely? So you can check us out on our website,
which is www. Dot Children's Museum, Franklin, dot org.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
An addition, you can follow us on social media at
Children's Museum Franklin, both on Facebook and Instagram, and we
share lots of stories about the progress for what's happening,
images of the space and exhibits, and we have an
upcoming mobile museum just to keep everybody excited about, you know,
what we're doing. We're going to be at Patriot Place
on Sunday, February twenty third, from ten to five, and
(11:58):
that will be an event that's actually free to the public,
so everyone's able to come in and check out our
mobile museum exhibits and get a little bit of a
sense for what we're offering to the community, which will
be really exciting. We're thrilled to get back out there
in twenty twenty five. And other than that, they can
follow along on our journey through our Facebook and our website.
(12:18):
You can certainly sit get in touch with us to
join our newsletters on our website as well.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
All right, well, ladies, I really appreciate your time. Thank
you so much for coming on to talk about your
museum and all the best as you make your way
toward opening the doors.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Thanks so much, thanks for having us. We appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
Have a safe and healthy weekend, stay warm and dry,
and join us again next week for another edition of
the show. I'm Nicole Davis from WBZ News Radio on
iHeartRadio
FROMMTYBZ News Radio in Boston. This is New England Weekend
where each and every week we come together right here
we talk about all the topics important to you and
the place where you live. It is great to be
back with you again this week. I'm Nicole Davis. Listen.
I'm a grown adult and I still love taking the
kids in my life to the children's museums in Boston
and otherwise. It's not just because they have a great time,
(00:28):
even though that's important, but it's because many years after
I was a child, every time we go, I still
have a great time as well with all the exhibits
and toys. Now, oftentimes you find children's museums in larger cities.
But now, thanks to two local moms with a plan,
a new children's museum is getting ready to open in
the town of Franklin. Let's learn all about it now.
(00:49):
Meg Hagen and Aaron Gallagher are here to share their story.
There the co founders of the Children's Museum of Franklin.
Great to have you both here on the show. And
you know, Meg, how did this become an idea in
the first place.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Yeah, So it's a kind of a bit of a
funny story. So, Erin and I have been friends for
about seven years since we both moved to the area,
and we both separately had this idea that we wanted
to open this children's museum in Franklin. There was a school,
an elementary school in Franklin that was closing down and
is now closed, and we both sort of had a
vision of the museum being something that would be a
(01:23):
great fit for a spot like that in downtown Franklin.
It's not where the museum has ended up. But even
though we had our separate vision, we never talked about it.
Even though we talk almost daily. We have kids the
same age, We're together quite frequently, and we happened to
be at a brunch with a mutual friend one day
and the conversation came up about the school and what
(01:44):
was happening to it, and Aaron started sharing, you know,
what was happening with the school, and I'm sitting there
quietly thinking, why is Aaron following what's happening with the school,
because I've been following what's happening with the school, and
then she all of a sudden says, you know, I've
had this wild idea I'd love to open a children's
museum there, and I dropped the work in my hand
and said, you have to be kidding me.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
So we laughed.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
We came up with a couple off the cup ideas
and then changed the subject so we wouldn't scare off
our new friends with being too crazy. But then we
walked out the door and we're rebuckling our two little
guys in the car and looked at each other and said,
let's really do this, And that was the start of
Children's Museum of Franklin.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
That is such a cool idea. It's like synchronicity, right,
you know, you've got somebody in your life where you're
just like on the same wavelength. But I guess some
people would ask Aaron why Franklin, Like we've got a
children's museum in Boston. Why Franklin specifically?
Speaker 3 (02:36):
So, my family moved to Franklin from Boston now closing
in on seven years ago. We had a one and
a half year old and a newborn in a third
floor apartment and a dog, and we needed to get
out of the air, but also to find some community
for our family. And I mean I met Mega my
(02:57):
second day in town, and community was the goal. And
we found that here and this town has been an
amazing place for our kids to grow up. Thinking about
bringing a space into this community where people can connect,
where families can learn together, where you know, education can
(03:19):
really flourish from a young age felt like such a
good fit for a town that we've grown to love
so much. But also having brought our own kids to
a lot of children's museums over the last eight years,
there is not an option that's close by Franklin. It's
(03:39):
really a day to you know, you have to dedicate
a day to driving to a museum that's closing in
on an hour away in any given direction. So we
felt like Franklin was a really good space for an
interactive play space like this, somewhere that was kind of
(04:01):
skipped over on the map for children's enrichment opportunities.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Yeah, so, what is the process like of putting together
a children's museum. I've never done this, Meg, so tell
me you've got this idea. You two said, all right,
we're going to do this. What has the process been like?
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Yeah, so, I mean basically of starting a small business
in general. So we wrote our business plan, we did
our market research, and Zaron said we thought it was
a great organization for this community, but we wanted to
make sure that we were being thorough in our thought
process that this could be a successful organization for this community.
So our market research did tell us that it was
in line with that. We applied for our five to
(04:41):
one C three status and put together our board of directors,
so we have seven people on our board of directors
who have been integral in establishing the Children's Museum of Franklin.
And then with our excitement of wanting to bring these
educational opportunities in this learning through play education to the community,
we we decided we were going to launch a mobile museum,
(05:03):
and this was also an opportunity to kind of test
the waters make sure that our market research is correct
that there was actually appetite for an organization like this
in the community. So we received our five oh one
C three approval the end of December twenty twenty three,
and in January of twenty twenty four, we launched our
mobile museum. So we bring about nine different exhibit spaces
that fill up approximately a six thousand square foot space,
(05:26):
so sort of think a large gymnasium at a school,
and we rotate around different locations such as school gymnasiums.
We've been to public libraries and a few other facilities,
Downtown Sports, Patriot Place, and we've been having, you know,
with this mobile museum, three to six hundred people at
(05:46):
each of our events. They have been wildly attended and
it's been an incredible success. The joy and the fun
and the learning that we see at all of these
events has been has been huge. So most of the events,
like I said, had you know, five six hundred people
on average, and I think after the third one erin
and I looked at to each other and he said,
we need a physical space. We need to be able
(06:08):
to bring this to the community on a permanent basis,
not just you know, once or twice a month. So
we at that point then reached out to our a
developer in town who we've been working with, who is
really passionate about downtown Franklin as well and his vision
for you know, the success of downtown Franklin, which really
aligns with ours as well and what we want to
bring to the community. And Camper Property Group and Brad
(06:31):
Schaffee's the head of that, and we called Brad and
had a coffee with him and said, look, we need
a space. So we started kind of throwing around ideas
of what could work, and he had the opportunity to
acquire what is was an agway. It was the Franklin
Agway one fifty seven con Distreet in Franklin. So that
happened in May of twenty twenty four and since then
(06:53):
we've gone through all of the rest of building up
the space and working with architects and different to design
a thoughtful, intentional, exciting floor plan in space for kids
to come and learn through, play.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
Wow and erin. When all this is done, Agway aside,
you've got this beautiful museum. When the doors open, what
will people be able to do and enjoy?
Speaker 3 (07:18):
So we have incorporated within the space twelve different exhibit
areas everything from gross motor to healthy Hearts, healthy Bodies,
a financial literacy section, and then some museum classics like
water and imaginative play and train tables and all the
(07:41):
things that go with that. The exhibits are primarily designed
for children about ten and under, all the way down
to the real littles. We'll have outside space as well
to be able to get out, have a little fresh air,
play outside, and then in addition to that, we have
a fully built out lab and classroom space and the
(08:03):
back of the building where we'll offer programming for elementary
and middle school aged kids. You know, there have been
a lot of cuts to education in the last I
mean number of years really that have impacted you know,
what our kids are able to learn in elementary and
middle school clubs that are available, and we are hopeful
(08:26):
that in this space we'll be able to fill some
of those gaps in educational programming for those kiddos. In
addition to that, we will offer leadership and development opportunities
for high school students coming into the space, as well
as internship experiences for college students. So we'll really be
able to reach the full breadth of the education system
(08:48):
all under this one roof, which is very exciting.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
That is so cool. I am really imagining something that
everybody can enjoy, and unfortunately that costs a lot of
money to put together. So Meg, tell me about what
it's been like trying to get the capital you've needed
and get the support you've needed to get this done.
Has it been easy? Have you had any roadblocks so far?
Speaker 2 (09:11):
I will say I don't think anything about fundraising is
necessarily easy.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
But fair, okay, And you.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
Know it's new for us, for both Aaron and I,
you know, the fund raising game here, but this community
has truly wrapped its arms around us. It has been incredible.
We have three different basic arms of fundraising that we're
looking at, and our largest arm has been our grassroots
fundraising and the support that we've received from individuals in
this community has truly been incredible and that's what got
(09:37):
our mobile museum off the ground and that's been a
large chunk of what we've been able to pull together
to be able to work towards opening our doors here.
We additionally have a corporate sponsorship program, our Corporate Curiosity Champions,
and we've had success with quite a few local organizations
supporting us through that. Through that arm as well, and
then as IVO one C three were eligible for a
(09:58):
lot of different grands, so we've had and success with
some local grants through Mass Cultural Council, the Franklin Cultural Council,
and Franklin Cultural District, Bjay's ABBEMA. We've have, you know,
a list of of grants that we've had success with.
So it's been certainly a team effort and we still
have always to go with our fundraising to be able
to open our doors. But we've had some great success
(10:21):
thus far.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Wow. So where are you at right now in the process,
I mean, between the fundraising, between the building. What's your
timeline here for opening things up?
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (10:31):
So right now we it all continues on its current trajectory.
We should be opening the end of April or early
in May this year, so it's really coming up quickly.
Right now, the building is fully under construction.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
I understand.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
We should have walls next week, which is very exciting. Okay, wow,
very exciting. So once that internal you know based construction's done,
our exhibits will start coming into the space, you know,
kind of in that late March to early April timeframe,
and we'll quickly get to the point where we can
(11:12):
open our doors.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Wow. Okay. So if people want to follow along with
your journey, maybe they want to donate, maybe they want
to get involved and I don't know, contribute to an
exhibit in some way, just talk with you about how
you can get this going Meg, How can they get
in touch with you?
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Absolutely? So you can check us out on our website,
which is www. Dot Children's Museum, Franklin, dot org.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
An addition, you can follow us on social media at
Children's Museum Franklin, both on Facebook and Instagram, and we
share lots of stories about the progress for what's happening,
images of the space and exhibits, and we have an
upcoming mobile museum just to keep everybody excited about, you know,
what we're doing. We're going to be at Patriot Place
on Sunday, February twenty third, from ten to five, and
(11:58):
that will be an event that's actually free to the public,
so everyone's able to come in and check out our
mobile museum exhibits and get a little bit of a
sense for what we're offering to the community, which will
be really exciting. We're thrilled to get back out there
in twenty twenty five. And other than that, they can
follow along on our journey through our Facebook and our website.
(12:18):
You can certainly sit get in touch with us to
join our newsletters on our website as well.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
All right, well, ladies, I really appreciate your time. Thank
you so much for coming on to talk about your
museum and all the best as you make your way
toward opening the doors.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Thanks so much, thanks for having us. We appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
Have a safe and healthy weekend, stay warm and dry,
and join us again next week for another edition of
the show. I'm Nicole Davis from WBZ News Radio on
iHeartRadio
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