ROCKINGHAM, N.C. — City leaders in Rockingham are hoping a new Discovery Place Kids museum will revitalize a struggling downtown economy.
The museum will open Saturday morning after a nearly five-year focus on fundraising and planning. City leaders worked with museum officials to raise $12.7 million for the facility's construction, to fund exhibits and to fund continuing education within the community.
"It provides us the opportunity to serve an awful lot of people that might not make the trip all the way to Charlotte," said Discovery Place, Inc. CEO John Mackey.
Mackey said he was drawn to Rockingham because of the potential to attract more than 40,000 visitors each year.
"We realized there's no other museum within a four- or five-county area distant from Rockingham," Mackey said.
Museum staff designed the exhibits to reflect the rural county's farming culture and the local connection to racing at "The Rock" racetrack.
City leaders are banking the museum will be an anchor to downtown Rockingham.
"We've been without an anchor," said Mayor Steve Morris.
After several manufacturers left Rockingham, and commercial stores moved elsewhere, Morris said jobs disappeared and downtown quietly began drying up.
Morris himself is a downtown business owner -- he runs Helms Jewelry store. He said working to re-imagine the future of Rockingham has been a labor of love.
"It's sorta like this business. We have to keep reinventing it. If I did business the same way I did 25 years ago, I'd be out of business," Morris said.
Along with Discovery Place, city leaders are celebrating the return of NASCAR races to The Rock. Officials are also focusing on attracting amateur sports to the region with plans for a new sports facility.
Morris said workers have also cleared out a several mile stretch of Hitchcock Creek, which runs from downtown to the Pee Dee River, hoping to attract kayaking and canoeing enthusiasts.
"We envision people coming here for a baseball, softball tournament, playing a game in the morning, hitting the creek in the afternoon, perhaps going to Discovery Place Kids the next day, and staying overnight in a hotel," Morris said.
The museum will open its doors for the first time Saturday at 9 a.m. Tickets will be half-price all weekend long.