The Boulder County Badger

Longmont Museum targets Oct. 17 reopening with new galleries and DreamLab

The museum is preparing an interactive children’s gallery and other expanded spaces while seeking unapproved 2027 funding for additional exhibition staff and gallery teachers.

Published Boulder County
A historic $5 banknote bearing the words “American National Bank of Longmont” and “Longmont, Colorado,” from the museum’s local-history collection.
A historic $5 banknote bearing the words “American National Bank of Longmont” and “Longmont, Colorado,” from the museum’s local-history collection.

The Longmont Museum is targeting an Oct. 17 reopening of its expanded galleries, including a new children’s gallery, a larger feature gallery and a permanent history gallery. Construction and installation were still underway in the museum’s Aug. 17 advisory board packet.

The reopening is scheduled to begin with a free, all-day celebration. The museum’s official exhibitions calendar lists DreamLab in Lila’s Children’s Gallery, Frida Kahlo: An Intimate Portrait and Women Artists: Four Centuries of Creativity as opening Oct. 17. The city’s expansion announcement says the project includes a permanent history gallery but does not identify its opening exhibition.

DreamLab is planned as an interactive space for children. The museum director’s report says interactives were being installed, work was wrapping up on a castle structure and a space punch list, and labels were being developed with an early-childhood education consultant.

Planned features include a forest foliage mural on a mushroom house, a light-up sign at the Deep Sea Diner, a cave facade with light-up crystals and a climber in the toddler area. The report also identifies ADA lighting strips on stairs at exhibit entrances. The city says the expanded entrance will be larger and more accessible, but the available records do not provide a broader list of accessibility features.

The project remained a target rather than a completed reopening. The packet says the museum had a temporary certificate of occupancy for the new front-lobby entrance but not yet for the galleries. It also says the museum was “on track for the October 17 opening” and that major elements of the expansion punch list had been completed, while DreamLab installation continued. The Museum Advisory Board packet does not establish that remaining work, inspections or gallery occupancy approvals will be complete by the reopening date.

The museum selected eTix as its new ticketing provider for auditorium offerings, with a launch planned for fall 2026. No specific date was given.

The museum is requesting additional exhibition positions and gallery teachers in the city’s 2027 budget. The packet does not state the requested amount, the number of positions or whether the requests will be approved. Longmont’s proposed 2027 budget was still headed for City Council review and approval when the report was prepared.