National Blues Museum set for St. Louis opening next spring

ST. LOUIS (AP) - A $13 million national blues museum's debut in downtown St. Louis is now scheduled for next spring.

The site's executive director, Dion Brown, tells the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (http://bit.ly/1WuvyO9) that the grand opening next April 2, allowing for various exhibit cases for the 23,000-square-foot museum to be shipped from Seattle.

Brown says the museum has roughly 16,000 feet of exhibit space is largely complete, with staffers doing test runs of interactive elements.

Brown became the museum's chief earlier this year. He previously had been executive director of the B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center in Indianola, Mississippi.