BANGOR – The heart was restored to the downtown Saturday when the Maine Discovery Museum opened its doors, said U.S. Rep. John Baldacci before helping to guide a pair of golden scissors through a thick red ribbon.

Baldacci, who grew up in Bangor, recalled visiting Santa Claus and riding the miraculous escalator and, later, an elevator as a child at the Freese’s Department Store. Then came urban renewal, when many downtown landmarks were torn down and, some would say, the heart was torn out of the city. The massive Freese’s building remained intact but largely disused – until now.

“You’re restoring the heart of Bangor,” Baldacci said, standing atop a wooden bench in the museum lobby where about 25 people gathered for the opening ceremonies Saturday morning.

The museum was doing so, literally, he said, because a third-floor exhibit about the human body featured a giant heart. The museum also was restoring the heart figuratively because it will bring children and their families back into the downtown, the congressman said.

The museum’s executive director, Sean Faircloth, also saw a tie to the past. He said it was a great coincidence that the No. 1 selling album in 2001 is by the Beatles. He said the ’60s rock band saw the world differently and refused to give in to convention; so, too, should the children who visit the Maine Discovery Museum.

“You don’t have to color inside the lines,” said Faircloth, who later admitted he’d hoped to pen a longer speech but was too busy vacuuming in preparation for the opening.

“Inside this museum, you make the rules,” he said.

With that, about a dozen eager youngsters, who had grown antsy at all the talking and standing around, rushed through the lobby to see the much-hyped museum for themselves.

Youngsters, from toddlers to teen-agers, hustled from exhibit to exhibit. They sat atop a motorcycle in Condon’s garage in Booktown. They banged on African drums and scaled an Australian red rock wall in Passport to the World. They squirted green liquid onto plastic toast and tomatoes to learn how the human body digests food. They admired the skin-tight red, white and blue racing suit shown off by Olympic skier Julie Parisien and made valentines with artist Jan Owen, who were both on hand for the festivities.

“It’s a cool place to be,” said 13-year-old Chris Swanson of Levant as he and his 2-year-old sister, Katie, played with boats in a river complete with geysers of water that the children could control.

“It’s wonderful. It’s creative. It’s built for a child’s eyes,” said his mother, Lisa, as she kept a firm grip on Katie who was merrily splashing about.

Jim Donnelly’s three boys, ages 1, 4 and 6, were hidden from view inside a treehouse.

“It’s very cool,” said the Brewer dad. “We were really looking forward to this.”

No one seemed to mind that not all the exhibits were complete or that the finishing touches hadn’t been put on stairwells. Dozens of volunteers had worked through the nights to ensure that the museum, the largest children’s museum north of Boston, opened on time.

Joe Rizzo, from Display Concepts Inc. of Trenton, the company that built the exhibits, said crews worked 24 hours a day to get the museum ready for the opening. Some even slept there, he said.

Eyeing the Nature Trails exhibit like a proud father, he asked a visitor, “Do you like it?”

Museum officials said 415 people visited the facility Saturday and 480 came there on Sunday. It was far from the mob scene that some had hoped for, and a take-a-number system that was to be used to limit the number of people inside the museum to 200 at a time did not have to be employed.

Still, a good time was had by all.

“We’re excited,” said Jonathan Rubin of Bangor, who came to the opening with his 3-year-old daughter, Hannah.

The museum will be open from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Admission is $5.50 per person.

Attendants at the city’s Pickering Square parking garage polled those who used the facility Saturday to see if they had been to the museum. If there is enough demand, the garage will be open on Saturdays to accommodate museum goers.