B-roll, Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Celebrates the Completion of the Strong National Museum of Play's $75 Million Expansion Project in Downtown Rochester

"Steven, it's almost one o'clock. He has been waiting for one o'clock on this day for four solid years he told me. So, to be here on this day is such an honor for me. I've been bringing my children here for many, many years when they were younger. Now, I'm a grandma. I can't wait to introduce Sophia to this wonderful place of magic.

And Steven, you have shepherded this through, taken this concept, this museum that just used to welcome children to a place where I think you're going to have as many adults as children reliving their childhood. So, leadership matters. You made a difference. Ladies and gentleman, let's get another round of applause for Steve Dubnik.

This region is blessed with also extraordinary elected leaders. I call them friends. They are committed to making sure that the Finger Lakes region and Rochester in particular, really reach their full potential. And I want to thank our Congressman, former leader of everything, former supervisor, former member of the assembly, but now representing our voice in Washington, our Congressman Joe Morelle. Let's give Joe a round of applause.

County Executive Bello, we have been at so many groundbreakings and ribbon cuttings. It almost seems nonstop, so it's great to be rejoined with you once again to just show the world how much fun Rochester is and the Finger Lakes region. So let's give a round of applause for our County Executive.

And to be able to be the mayor of one of the most fun places in the entire world, Mayor Malik Evans, I thank you for being there for this community, fighting for this community and really making a difference. Also, I have great partners in the state legislature. I believe they're all present here, but in the Senate, we have Jeremy Cooney and Samra Brouk. Let's give them both a round of applause. Thank you both. Assemblymembers Lundsford and Meeks have joined us. Let's give round applause to both of them. Assemblymember Clark is here.

Today is an opportunity for us to make a strong commitment to the revitalization of this region. I know this region well. I grew up just down the road. I know all the ups and I know the downs. I have seen this area rise up and be that place that people wanted to work. I grew up in Buffalo. We had a lot of blue-collar workers, but Rochester was always the white-collar workers. And so, we used to look at the people who worked at Bausch and Lomb, and Kodak, and all the people that were innovating, creating things. Such a place of energy and vitality. And then when the businesses leave, you feel like you're losing your sense of identity as well. But no more. This region has reinvented themselves and it didn't happen with just hope. It happened with partners in the private sector, those who've been investing in this area.

And at this point, I want to give a special shout out to the Ralph C. Wilson Foundation because every time there is a positive announcement, something good happening, Mary Wilson is there. Thank you. Thank you for recognizing that Buffalo Bills fans are Rochester Bills fans too. That the love of this team has transcended one geographic area, and your presence here today is so special to us. Mary Wilson, let's give her another round of applause.

And the board members, the chairs, the donors. There is an incredible civic spirit here, and that's what every community would love to have is what we have here in Rochester and in Monroe County. And you think about Margaret Woodbury Strong, who back when most of you weren't even born yet, had a vision, a place of gathering, a place that has let people be someone else for a short time and just to return to childhood, and that's what she created.

But here in 2023, taking this to a new level that embraces the other ways that we've enjoyed just relaxation and stimulation through digital games, video games. Everybody of a certain area, that's all you knew. We thought pong was so sophisticated. How did they get those little balls to go back and forth?

It's amazing. I still remember that. "Wow, this is a new era." And now look who we are today. But I happen to believe that the stimulation of these games that used to make some parents angry and upset, like, "My kids have to be outdoors." Yes, outdoors is great, but not today. The air quality's kind of bad. When you can't be outdoors, this is also stimulating the mind with these games.

And I believe that is why new developments, new innovations like artificial intelligence, I guarantee this is all thought of by people who cut their teeth in their childhood, having their minds stimulated with these kinds of games. I don't think parents do it at the time, but I believe that is one of the reasons that we're going to continue to propel this nation into the next area of creative solutions through technology because of what has happened in our history as children.

So today, we celebrate that. This is the place you gotta take a chance to walk back through time and understand how he got here, but also a place where you can just be somebody else for a little while. Take that step back into a more innocent time. Something we all need to do to recharge the soul.

This is the place. What happened here in this space, not just in this building, but this neighborhood, a neighborhood of play - what an ingenious branding. I have to say, I like to say New York is the state of play because it just gives you that sense of this is where people want to be. How can you not want to play? But the neighborhood itself, the new hotel, the new housing, you look out the window, there are people who called this area home when at one time was just asphalt and speeding cars going by.

What imagination brought us to this day to say we can reverse, reverse the lessons of the past, the wrongs of the past and say, "This community deserves more. It deserves excellence and a magnificent gathering place." Which is what we're here to finish a long journey of completion toward today.

So, I thank everyone. I thank people from Rochester who fiercely believed that their community deserved better. And I hope that they look back at this day and say, "Yes, this is when it changed. We built this opportunity. We made something out of nothing in this particular area." And now, it is a place to showcase to the rest of the world, the possibility of people when they come together with a common spirit and just want to have fun.

So, thank you to everybody who made this happen. I could not be prouder to be here again. I'm going to be calling up when Sofia is a little bit older than one maybe. I don't know what the right age is, what's the right age, any age? Zero? Okay. He thinks she should be here already. In fact, believe me, when I was FaceTiming with her, because she thinks her grandmother's really little because she lives far away. But, my son says, "Why didn't you bring Sofia to the opening?"

So, I owe my granddaughter a visit here, just like my children, because this is a place where families can reconnect and feel the love and the gift of play, connections, family, and that's what you're offering to the rest of the world right here today.

Over a million people are going to come here. I think we're going to surpass those numbers. And it all begins here today at one o'clock. Thank you everyone, and congratulations."

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