Bellingham museum’s new exhibit to honor Mindport’s legacy in downtown
Bellingham’s SPARK Museum of Electrical Invention will open a new temporary exhibit to celebrate a Bellingham icon that closed last year.
The new exhibit, “Curious by Design: The Mindport Legacy,” will open to the public May 10 — following a private opening May 9 for museum members on May 9 — in honor of the Mindport Museum that closed last year.
“This interactive exhibit celebrates the legacy of Mindport Exhibits, a one-of-a-kind space that blended art, science, and hands-on discovery for nearly 30 years,” a news release from the museum states. “Curious by Design: The Mindport Legacy brings to life the spirit of Mindport through interactive installations, and retrospective stories from the minds and hearts behind the magic.”
The Mindport tribute is the inaugural exhibit in the museum’s newest gallery, which will continue to rotate new exhibits inside.
“When Mindport closed in November they re-homed their exhibits, distributing them to several amazing organizations,”Abby Whatley, director of programs at Spark Museum of Electrical Invention, told The Herald. “We were the recipients of a number of them. The exhibit honoring Mindport will be at SPARK Museum in our new gallery which will house rotating exhibits. Later, the pieces we have from Mindport will go elsewhere in the museum.”
The museum’s permanent exhibits include one of the two original Thomas Edison light bulbs, the telephone used in the first transcontinental phone call, and other historical items from centuries ago.
“Following a continuous thread of invention and discovery, the SPARK Museum’s collection contains a wealth of unique and rare artifacts dating from the earliest days of scientific electrical experiments in the 1600s through the 1940s and the Golden Age of Radio. Artifacts from the laboratories of the early pioneers of electricity, from magnets and Leyden jars to light bulbs, telegraphs and telephones, all are well-represented at our history museum in Bellingham,” the museum’s website states.
Admission into the SPARK museum costs $10 for ages 13 and up and $6 for ages 12 and under. Children younger than 2 years old and museum members may enter free of charge.
The museum is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday at 1312 Bay St. in Bellingham.
