Ben Stiller and walking dino skeleton not included.

August 20, 2009 9:13 AM

Saturday, September 26th, the Smithsonian museum family and their affiliates will be hosting a free admission event, if you go to their MUSEUM DAY site and print out the admission coupon. One coupon = 1+ admission.

Which museums across the nation are participating? I'm glad you asked. Because there are three ways of finding a participating venue.

This is free culture being thrown at you for free and is free. Did I mention free? TAKE IT AND RUN.

Introduce your kids to something other than the television. They may like it. Take your boy/girlfriend on a romantic date though the ages. Impress out of town guests with an excellent field trip. Teachers, force your kids to go and bring back a pamphlet or report as extra credit in your class.

posted by FunkyHelix (20 comments total)

Nice. If you find a free airfare coupon site for SEA to DCA, please post.
posted by bz at 9:19 AM on August 20

The Smithsonian museums in Washington are already free.
posted by exogenous at 9:21 AM on August 20 [1 favorite]

bz, this deal applies to a ton of venues across the country, not just the smithsonian. awesome info funky, thanks
posted by Think_Long at 9:22 AM on August 20

Click the actual link. There are tons of affiliates, all over the country. This may be America-centric (not sure if it extends to other nations), but it's definitely not DC-centric.
posted by explosion at 9:22 AM on August 20

I think she means that you can visit an affiliated museum (i.e. many of your local museums that may charge admission fees) for free on that day.
posted by uaudio at 9:22 AM on August 20

of course, the participating tc locations are pretty much always free, so my enthusiasm is somewhat tempered
posted by Think_Long at 9:23 AM on August 20

bz, if you wanna check out the Smithsonians in DC, come whenever you're ready. They're free all the time, not just on that day.

Actually, I didn't realize that museums usually charge admission until I visited other non-DC ones.
posted by That takes balls. at 9:25 AM on August 20

bz, there are several participating museums in Seattle.
posted by grouse at 9:25 AM on August 20

In Boston, participating institutions include the Museum of Fine Arts, the Science Museum, and the Mary Baker Eddy Library.

Their map also seems to think that the Old South Meeting House is out in East Somerville instead of downtown Boston, but this overall concept is very cool. Go get yerself some kulcha for free, buddy!
posted by Spatch at 9:27 AM on August 20

Sweet! I've been meaning to check out the Arab-American History museum in Dearborn, Michigan and never knew they were an affiliate. Being one and all I can't believe I haven't been, so thanks for the heads-up. Free culture rules.
posted by joe lisboa at 9:32 AM on August 20

This makes me so thankful to live in DC. Now, when I travel, I'm absolutely outraged that museums expect me to pay to get in.
posted by orrnyereg at 9:32 AM on August 20

(And I just learned from the museum's site that Helen Thomas of White House press corps fame is a Lebanese-American too. That rules.)
posted by joe lisboa at 9:37 AM on August 20

Sorry: de-rail
posted by joe lisboa at 9:40 AM on August 20

But... when I see "Smithsonian" I only think of the real magillah. I've never seen the DC museums. Heck, I've never seen DC.
posted by bz at 9:49 AM on August 20

Oh, wow, this is great! Man, I wish I had known about this before going to the Museum of Science a couple of weeks ago, but now I can drag my resident scientist to an art museum instead!
posted by Diagonalize at 9:56 AM on August 20

Go get yerself some kulcha for free, buddy!

I prefer subbacultcha. You know — when you grope for luna?
posted by That takes balls. at 10:12 AM on August 20

It's dissapointing to see that none of the big name museums in Chicago are participating.
posted by garlic at 4:16 PM on August 20

Growing up in DC, I was shocked to realize that most museums charge you to enter.
posted by bardic at 6:34 PM on August 20

joe lisboa: (And I just learned from the museum's site that Helen Thomas of White House press corps fame is a Lebanese-American too. That rules.)

Not as much as seeing Helen Thomas in a Smithsonean museum, but I catch your drift.
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posted by l33tpolicywonk at 7:31 PM on August 20

I always go to the great museums when I travel to a major city. And before I go, I look to see if there's a weekday that has free admission. And then I don't go on that day, because I don't want to deal with all the rabble.
posted by neuron at 8:44 PM on August 20