Clock runs out on Kids Time in Millerton after two decades

MILLERTON — Kids Time, Millerton’s longtime indoor play space, has closed for good after more than two decades as a staple of childhood birthdays and family celebrations.

Owner Ken Thompson shut the doors Sunday, Feb. 8, after hosting the final birthday party at the once-bustling Route 44 attraction. The business, which Thompson built and ran largely on his own since opening in 2006, had slowed in recent years and was no longer financially sustainable, he said.

Thompson, who owns the commercial building that also houses Avocado Cafe, Millerton Athletic Club and a beer store, said he explored downsizing and other options before ultimately deciding to close.

“It was never about the money,” Thompson said. “It was about the kids and the joy on their faces — you can’t put a dollar amount on that.”

Families came to Kids Time for birthday parties and open play, drawn to the colorful maze of slides, mats and climbing features Thompson built and maintained himself. Children who visited him knew him simply as “Mr. Ken,” and he was rarely without small rituals — including a basket of lollipops offered to kids on their way out.

A view through a porthole on the custom-made jungle gym that Ken Thompson built for his business, Kids Time. Thompson shuttered the business after 20 years on Sunday, Feb. 8, after hosting one last party.Photo by Aly Morrissey

For some families, the final party marked a generational full-circle moment.

“I brought my kids here when it was in the bigger space, and now they are grown up and have been bringing their own kids,” said Tilly Strauss, who celebrated her grandchild’s first birthday at Kids Time on Sunday. “We’re really going to miss this place.”

For Thompson, those generational moments reflected the persistence and determination that defined both his business and his own life.

The fastest way to get Thompson to do something, he said, is to tell him he can’t — a stubborn streak that once pushed him to buy his own bicycle at age nine and later to hand-build and run Kids Time as a one-man operation for more than 20 years.

A mechanic by trade, Thompson said he never imagined the turn his life would take when he purchased the large commercial building on Route 44. At the time, he learned it was the only property in Millerton zoned for children’s recreation — a detail he overheard at a town meeting.

“I thought, ‘What kind of person would I be if I had a space for kids and didn’t give back to local families with children,’” Thompson recalled.

He waited more than a year for approvals before letting his imagination take over. Thompson spent months transforming the industrial space into an indoor world designed for children to jump, bounce, climb and slide.

Even in the earliest stages, he involved kids in the process. Thompson ran a logo design contest in his daughter’s fourth-grade classroom and said he was thrilled when one student incorporated a clock — an image that became the Kids Time logo for the next 20 years.

“It was brilliant,” Thompson said. “I had never thought of that before.”

Ken Thompson, center, emerges from a red slide at his kid's party and play business in Millerton. Thompson intends to donate the red slide to the Village of Millerton to use in the playground at Eddie Collins Memorial Park on North Elm Street.Photo by Aly Morrissey

After more than a year of sourcing play equipment, painting, repairing ceiling tiles and doing the physically demanding work himself, Thompson finally opened the doors to Kids Time in the spring of 2006.

“It was a complete dud,” he said, laughing.

His business partner at the time decided to leave and move back to Arizona, Thompson said, leaving him to buy out the business and run it alone. Then, almost unexpectedly, families began to show up.

At its peak, Thompson said he was booking as many as six birthday parties a day — all of which he ran himself.

“My pockets were stuffed with cash,” he recalled.

Kids Time operated for years as a weekend destination for local families until the COVID-19 pandemic upended normal operations. Thompson survived the shutdowns and later downsized to a smaller space — a move he handled on his own — but the business never fully returned to what it once was.

Still, Thompson said he will always look back on Kids Time — which he called “the best job in the world” — with pride and fondness.

“It was a life-changing experience,” he said. “I wish I could keep it going.”

Thompson’s daughter, KT, thanked her father publicly for the space he created.

“Thank you for building me the coolest place in the world, for being the best dad anyone could ask for and for leaving a lasting mark on all of us through your kindness, dedication and joy,” she said.

As the final birthday party wound down Sunday afternoon, Thompson invited guests to take pieces of Kids Time home — climbing mats of all shapes, colors and sizes — free of charge.

“I’m just happy they’ll have a new home,” Thompson said, visibly moved by the idea that pieces of Kids Time would continue to bring joy and play to children elsewhere.

Thompson has also offered Kids Time’s iconic red slide to the Village of Millerton and hopes it can be incorporated into the playground at Eddie Collins Memorial Park.