Wenatchee Valley Museum breaks ground on modernization effort

WENATCHEE — Beneath a bright spring sky and a wind-whipped American flag, community leaders, museum supporters and residents gathered Saturday, May 16 outside the Wenatchee Valley Museum & Cultural Center to celebrate the beginning of a project many in the crowd described as generations in the making.

Golden shovels turned dirt in the museum parking lot, where organizers had hauled in a ceremonial mound of soil near the stage for the groundbreaking itself. Behind the speakers, Centennial Park and its towering flagpole framed the event as the museum formally launched a sweeping revitalization project intended to transform the longtime downtown institution into a modern cultural and educational hub for the valley. But the ceremony often felt less like a construction kickoff and more like a collective declaration about what kind of community Wenatchee wants to become.

“This is a very big deal, you guys,” campaign co-chair Dr. Eliot Scull told the crowd. “A very big deal.”

The event blended civic pride, storytelling, music and emotion. Speakers reflected on the museum’s 86-year history while repeatedly framing the project as an investment in future generations, especially children who will grow up using the reimagined space.

Museum Executive Director Marriah Thornock delivered one of the ceremony’s most memorable moments while recalling a quote left for her by predecessor Laurel Turner on Thornock’s first day in the role. The quote came from famed architect and urban planner Daniel Burnham.

“Make no little plans,” Thornock said, quoting Burnham. “They have no magic to stir men's blood.”

As she continued, Thornock’s voice caught with emotion while describing the museum not simply as a building project, but as a place future generations will shape in ways the current community cannot yet imagine.

“I can't wait for them to take this dream and run with it even farther than we have,” she said. “And honestly, I can't wait for them to stagger us.”

The project aims to modernize aging infrastructure, improve accessibility, expand educational and gathering spaces and create more interactive exhibits and technology-driven experiences. Speakers repeatedly emphasized that the effort is about more than preserving artifacts.

Board President Felicity Saberhagen said the museum’s future depends on creating spaces where families gather, children engage with history and the broader community can connect.

“As we break ground today, we are actually taking a moment to start something new rather than bring something down,” Saberhagen said.

The ceremony also highlighted the museum’s role as shared ground for the entire valley. East Wenatchee Mayor Jerrilea Crawford described the museum as a resource that reaches beyond city limits and county lines, while Wenatchee Mayor Mike Poirier joked early in his remarks that for the project’s price tag, “I hope they fix these stairs.”

One of the afternoon’s strongest reminders of the museum’s living connection to local storytelling came from Matthew Pippin, a longtime museum staff member and prominent local actor who appeared in full Benjamin Franklin costume to promote this summer’s Hot August Nights production of the musical “1776.”

Standing on the outdoor stage with the American flag flying directly behind him, Pippin mixed humor and history while recounting the story of Clyde Pangborn’s aircraft propeller housed in the museum collection, a relic tied to the mysterious disappearance of the “American Nurse” aircraft over the Atlantic decades ago.

“That means the only thing that still exists from that historic flight to this valley is that propeller that we have here in this museum,” Pippin said. “Isn't that a great story?”

The ceremony also included remarks from youth volunteer Jacob, who spoke about attending museum summer camps as a child before returning later as a counselor and mentor. He described the museum as a place where children feel included, heard and encouraged to explore new interests.

Later in the event, Randy Lewis of the Wenatchi Band welcomed attendees to a traditional salmon bake and reflected on the importance of Indigenous representation within the museum’s future.

“This museum will showcase for the first time,” Lewis said, “a really great place” for Native history and culture within the institution.

The project has drawn support from donors, volunteers, elected officials and community organizations over several years of planning and fundraising. During Saturday’s ceremony, Thornock announced that gifts made toward the museum campaign through the end of June will continue to be matched through the estate of the late Dean Weidner, whose contributions helped launch the project.

As ceremonial shovels struck the dirt and applause rolled across the crowd, the mood felt less procedural than celebratory, the kind of civic moment speakers repeatedly said communities remember for decades afterward.

“Today we turn dirt,” Thornock said, “but what we are really doing is planting possibilities.”

Andrew Simpson: 509-433-7626 or andrew@ward.media