Downtown Toledo’s Festival Park is about to get a whole lot smarter — and a lot more fun for families.

Imagination Station announced today a $1.1 million plan to transform Festival Park into a free outdoor science and nature lab, bringing hands-on science and nature experiences to the downtown riverfront, The Blade reports.

Under the plan, Festival Park — steps from the science center’s downtown home — would become an open-air extension of Imagination Station, with interactive science stations and nature-based exhibits available free to the public. For Northwest Ohio families, that’s a free, educational outdoor destination right in the heart of downtown Toledo.

Get to know the science center and its current exhibits at the official Imagination Station website.

The announcement lands with an interesting backdrop: Imagination Station also has a levy on the Nov. 3 ballot. Catch up on the details in our Oct. 28 report on the library and Imagination Station levies before you head to the polls on Tuesday.

Featured image: Mbrickn / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0).