As Attendance Bounds, Fayetteville Museum Lands on the Map

Beginning in November, the museum will be featured on the front of theN.C. Department of Transportation'sstate highway maps.

Three million maps will be distributed to North Carolina residents, tourists and welcome centers.

"Getting visibility about a new facility is very difficult," says Sandy Klotz, the museum's executive director. "This is going to put it right in front of the eyes of an awful lot of visitors."

The museum is enjoying plenty of visitors. It projected 250,000 people a year. In its first six weeks, 45,000 people have walked through the doors.

"I hope more will come," says World War II veteran Bill Moffitt. "This is part of history, and more people need to come. If they don't see this history, it will be forgotten."

Every day, 950 people come to explore history and see the new side of Fayetteville.

The new museum brings a new group of people to help downtown businesses. The lunch crowd at Huske Hardware House has increased by 20 percent, and on weekends, business has doubled.

Manager Lisa Cabano says, "Saturdays and Sundays have been really busy, and I see a lot of new faces coming in."

The key is repeat business for the museum. They already expect people to come back when the the much-anticipated motion simulator goes into action in two weeks.

A feature film will also hit the museum theater in mid-October.