Crayola 'Ramps Up' Experience Before Reopening

Crayola makes a few billion crayons every year.

With that in mind, seeing half a million of them all in one place shouldn't seem that impressive. But still, it's easy to stop and stare at the massive wall of crayons and markers lining the Crayola Store in downtown Easton.

It's one of several things Crayola has added to its building in last few months. The company will unveil them to them public this Friday with a grand re-opening at 9:30 a.m.

The new Crayola Experience will feature 21 attractions: 14 that existed before the renovations, and seven new ones.

"We wanted to make sure we kept things that were popular, but ramped them up," said Crayola spokeswoman Kristen Luise, walking through the building Monday morning.

So the crayon-making demonstration you might have seen on previous visits now includes help from Turq and Scarlet, cartoon mascots who will interact with a Crayola employee as she pours wax into a mold.

Other attractions are brand new.

In a room on the building's third floor, Luise sat at a table with a tablet, coloring in a fish.

Seconds later, that fish appeared on a wall-sized screen, swimming under a cartoon sea. Luise walked to it, and just by gesturing, got the fish to swim around. Each movement caused the water to ripple.

The company is counting on these upgrades to boost visitor traffic by 30 percent this year, bringing about 70,000 people a month to the city this summer.

That number could be a blessing and a curse for the downtown, as all those potential diners/shoppers will still need a place to park.

Last month, parking concerns led Easton to hold off on construction of the new city hall on South Third Street, in order to keep a parking lot at that site open.

Luise acknowledged the parking issues, and said Crayola would provide visitors with maps of places to park near its building.

Crayola closed in February to begin its renovations and expansions.

In addition to the new attractions, it's moved its store to a new spot within the building. The former McDonald's on Northampton Street has been replaced with a new Crayola Cafe.