It’s been said that good things come to those who wait.
Friday at The Strong National Museum of Play provided a textbook example.
A 90,000-square-foot expansion that involved five years of construction, a timeline lengthened by the coronavirus pandemic, and cost $75 million (which grew from an original estimate of $60 million) finally was unveiled.
But first there were a lot of people to thank, from museum staff to donors to developers to government officials.
“I am perhaps the most relieved person in the country. We did it,” an elated president and CEO Steve Dubnik told a standing room-only crowd in the museum’s new welcome atrium before programming that included a dozen or so speeches by politicians who had roles in the massive project, including by securing public funding.
About 45 minutes into the hour-plus presentation featuring New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (whose pre-recorded remarks were played on a big screen), U.S. Rep. Joe Morelle and Monroe County Executive Adam Bello, Rochester Mayor Malik Evans said of his children seated in the audience: “They’re probably wondering, why did my dad have me come and sit through this long press conference to hear all these politicians talk? It’s because I want them to know that they are part of a moment in a place that is nonexistent anywhere else in the world, period. The historic nature of The Strong Museum cannot be understated. There is, like I said, nowhere else like this.”
What’s new at The Strong National Museum of Play
Eventually, his kids and others in attendance got their first glimpse of the eye-popping additions, including ESL Digital Worlds: Level Up, which allows guests to become the main character in a life-size video game; a 20-foot-high Donkey Kong arcade game; and a soaring new space for the World Video Game Hall of Fame.
One of the more striking installations in the Hall of Fame is something kids of the 1970s will recognize: a playable Pong game, presented on a…
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