Did the Taubman Museum opening live up to the hype?

By Jay Warren
WSLS10 Anchor
Published: November 10, 2008

Did the opening of the Taubman Museum of Art live up to the hype?

The black tie gala opening attracted more than 1,200 people, exceeding expectations. The Los Angeles based architect for the museum, Randall Stout, told me that night that the event had a New York feeling.

The following day, officials cut the ribbon and people lined up to get a first look inside. More than 10,000 people passed through the door on the first day along. More than 2,000 followed the next day.

“It was a great crowd,” said Kimberly Templeton, the museum’s director of external affairs. “What struck me was the diversity of the crowd. Some were from here. Some were from outside the region. We had guest from Europe. We had people who looked like they were typical museum goers and we also had people who otherwise indicated that they don’t get to go into buildings like this very often.”

All of that spilled over into the Market area. At Azar’s Jewelry, owner Elias Azar said he was packed at times on Saturday. His final assessment on the museum: “It’s good for Roanoke.”

Others agree. Roanoke Valley Printworks did triple the business of a good weekend. Almost every vendor in the downtown Market Building told WSLS the same thing, that business was three times better than a normal Saturday.

So, opening weekend was a huge success. The big question: will they be able to sustain that momentum that will be helping these businesses?

“That’s our challenge and that’s why we’re hard at work today. The building is clean and we’re past the opening. We’re on to what’s happening in December, what’s happening in the spring and next fall,” Templeton said.

A lot is riding on that, not only for the future of the museum, but also all of downtown.