Lynn Meadows Discovery Center cuts ribbon on new outdoor classroom, restored Treehouse Village

GULFPORT, Miss. (WXXV) — Excitement is in the air at Lynn Meadows Discovery Center, where new outdoor developments have brought joy to kids and adults alike.

“It’s like, so fun,” eight-year-old Ella Thompson said “I like the treehouses a lot.”

On Friday, Lynn Meadows held a ribbon cutting for the newly-renovated Treehouse Village — one of the museum’s oldest exhibits — as well as a new outdoor classroom to provide more learning opportunities to children.

“The intent for the outdoor classroom is to bring everything that we do from the indoors out here into nature,” Lynn Meadows Executive Director Cindy DeFrances said. “So, it’s just expanding our reach, being able to reach children in a whole different way and of course, this will enhance our field trips and all the other activities that we do. We do so many STEM activities that really deserve to be outside, and now, we can do it in a safe, covered environment.”

“I love learning, and so I will be excited to learn here,” Thompson added.

Work done on these developments was made possible in part by a roughly $267 thousand Building Fund for the Arts Grant through the Mississippi Arts Commission.

Lynn Meadows is also set to see new exhibits unveiled thanks to a pair of America 250 grants, the second of which was granted by the Mississippi Arts Commission on March 16th.

“Grants are one of the things that helps us continue to do all the programming that we do here at the museum,” DeFrances explained. “We’re able to do programming here at the museum, and then we’re able to bring it out into the community.”

More details about the museum’s upcoming projects will be made available in the coming months.