Go To a Museum Free This Saturday

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This weekend you can enjoy a free visit to many of the nation’s finest museums.

It’s not International Museum Day or anything. Smithsonian magazine just decided to sponsor free visits on a certain day “in the spirit of Smithsonian Museums,” which offer free admission every day. It calls the event Museum Day Live!, and this year it falls on Saturday, Sept. 28.

Here’s what you need to know:

  • Not every museum chooses to participate. Here’s a list searchable by state, ZIP code or keyword. If the one you want isn’t there, maybe bug them to join in next year.
  • You can’t just waltz in. You need to bring the printed-out ticket, which is emailed after you fill out a simple form. (Some museums may accept it displayed on your phone.)
  • The ticket is valid for two people per household, and only for general admission. It probably doesn’t cover parking, special exhibits, or IMAX screenings.
  • Participating museums that are normally closed on Saturday will accept the tickets on Sunday instead, but they are otherwise good only on Saturday.

About 1,500 museums are participating, according to Smithsonian.

It has a few recommendations: There’s the American Jazz Museum in Kansas City, Mo., which has an in-house nightclub with live performances. Our readers might take special interest in the Museum of American Finance in New York City, which has a $10,000 bill and an 18-karat gold Monopoly set on display.

Then there’s the Frontiers of Flight Museum in Dallas. “The museum boasts of some stellar collections that include early biplanes, the Apollo 7 command module, historically significant military and general aviation aircraft, numerous commercial airline artifacts, as well as a World War II exhibit,” Smithsonian says. “But the must-see artifact here is the iconic flying disk, the Chance Vought V-173. It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a flying pancake!”

What museums would you recommend? Let us know on Facebook.

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