Smithsonian magazine has an annual tradition of celebrating Museum Day, and many museums across the U.S. join in by offering free admission that day.
I had planned to tell you – before Museum Day – about a few participating museums I’ve visited in the past. But life is weird right now and I’ve pretty much lost all sense of time, so September 18 came and went before I realized I hadn’t posted this yet. I’m still going to tell you about those museums, though. There’s one in Indiana, one in Washington, and five in Arizona. While I posted a similar list ahead of Museum Day a couple years ago, a lot of those museums weren’t participating this year. So, on to the new list!
2 Museums I’ve Visited While Traveling
Conner Prairie in Fishers, Indiana
This is a living history museum that I loved visiting as a kid! I remember candle-dipping demonstrations and sitting in on a lesson in an old-timey one-room schoolhouse. They’ve added a lot of things since the last time I was there (many years ago), like make-and-take craft activities, a balloon ride, and the Lenape Indian Camp, which explores what life was like for members of the Lenape (a.k.a. Delaware) tribe in 1816 Indiana.
- Regular admission $20/adults, $15/youth (ages 2-12). $2 off when you purchase tickets online.
- Closed Mondays.
- Storytelling series: Thursday – Sunday evenings, September 16 – October 2. Hear about Indiana’s early history from expert storytellers, including former assistant chief of the Lenape tribe Mike Pace, who helped create the Lenape Indian Camp experience. Separate admission required for the event series: $10/adult, $6/youth.
- Prairie Pursuits: various dates. Workshops on traditional skills for teens and adults. Upcoming class topics include blacksmithing, woodworking, cooking, and pottery.
Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP) in Seattle, Washington
The museum formerly known as the Experience Music Project (EMP) has an atrium devoted to constantly-playing music videos (“Sky Church”), a towering guitar sculpture (“If VI Was IX: Roots and Branches”), and galleries for Seattle legends like Jimi Hendrix and Nirvana, as well as exhibitions on sci-fi, video games, and fantasy genre archetypes. Housed within a striking building designed by Frank O. Gehry, MoPOP is located at Seattle Center, near the Space Needle.
- Admission prices vary, depending on factors like when you’re going and how far in advance you purchase tickets.
- Closed Wednesdays.
5 Arizona Museums
Arizona Heritage Center at Papago Park in Tempe
An eclectic history of life in Arizona. On display are objects as varied as vintage vehicles, rock and mineral samples, maps, and re-creations of notable Arizonans’ homes and offices. There’s a new temporary exhibition (“Still Marching: From Suffrage to #MeToo”) on how Arizona women have worked to drive social change over the past century.
- Regular admission $15/adults, $7/youth (ages 7-13).
- Closed Sundays and Mondays.
The permanent collection is grouped into themed rooms, like…
- The People: Not only will you learn about the diverse groups that populated the Old West, but you can also read testimonies of people who saw the Phoenix Lights in 1997 and either did or didn’t believe they were UFOs.
- WWII: Takes you inside a military barracks, Japanese internment camp, and a POW camp. Dark corners that should not be forgotten.
- Desert Cities: Probably the most nostalgia-inducing area for those of us who grew up in Arizona, It focuses on the cultural changes in the Phoenix metro area during its post-WWII boom and includes an exhibit on local children’s t.v. show Wallace and Lladmo and an iconic statue from Bob’s Big Boy restaurant chain.
CAF Airbase Arizona Flying Museum in East Mesa
30,000 square feet of exhibition space devoted to the history of combat aircraft, plus a working maintenance hangar and active aircraft ramp. Located at Falcon Field Airport in Mesa, this is my pick for enthusiasts of old military planes and memorabilia. In other words, if you’re my grandpa, this is the museum for you!
- Regular admission $15/adults, $5/kids (ages 5-12).
- Closed Sundays, Mondays, and Tuesdays.
Mesa Historical Museum in Lehi (North Mesa)
The Mesa Historical Museum is housed in what was originally a school, built in 1913 in the very oldest part of the City of Mesa as we now know it. There is a replica of the one-room adobe schoolhouse that came before it, antique farm equipment and other artifacts from the area, and a couple rotating exhibits.
- Regular admission $7/adults, $5/youth (ages 6-17).
- Closed Sundays, Mondays, and major holidays.
Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (SMoCA) in Old Town Scottsdale
SMoCA is an art and event space with a permanent collection and exhibitions in the areas of contemporary art, architecture, and design. It’s part of Scottsdale Civic Center, along with Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts, City Hall, Civic Center Library, and a bunch of restaurants and bars centered around a 21-acre park.
- Closed Mondays, Tuesdays, and major holidays.
- Regular admission is $10/adults, free for anyone 18 and younger.
- Pay-What-You-Wish admission on Thursdays and the second Saturday of each month.
- Timed-entry reservations are now required for all admissions – even free tickets.
Tempe History Museum at Rural and Southern in Tempe
- Always free (not just on Museum Day)!
- Worth checking out if you’re in the neighborhood or going to a concert or lecture there.
- They are gradually re-starting performances, including some outside in the Museum courtyard.
- Closed Sundays and Mondays.
- See their collections online.
View this post on Instagram
