Museum Day Offers Families a free sample of area attractions
by Jessica Lindsey

Mark your calendar now and plan a fun day of exploring many of the amazing attractions that the Wichita area has to offer.

On Saturday, Sept. 25, 18 local museums will participate in a nationwide event sponsored by Smithsonian magazine called Museum Day. Each of the 18 local attractions is opening its doors to the public for free, absolutely no admission charge will be required.

“We are always talking about not knowing what's going on in our own backyard, well here's a day that is entirely devoted to finding out,” said Teresa Veazey, public relations manager with the Ulrich Museum of Art. “Life if busy, there's always a lot going on. Here's a real opportunity to enjoy the treasures of Wichita.”

Create a spark for local attractions With so many different places participating, it will be easy to please every member of the family.

“Wichita has so many local arts and cultural attractions that sometimes people don’t take advantage of everything they have right here in their own community,” said Mia Jenkins, director of marketing and communications for Botanica. “I think it’s a great movement to get people aware of the options that are available or to give people a chance to change things up. It’s nice to be able to come to Botanica for a visit or treat yourself to Exploration Place every once in a while.”

This is the third year that Botanica has participated in Museum Day and Jenkins said the turnout during the past two years has been excellent. Botanica sees about 210 people come through it’s gates on an average Saturday in September. During Museum Day 2009, 1,500 people made their way through the gardens over the course of the day.

“We’ve had a great turnout each Museum Day,” said Jenkins.

“We appreciate the additional traffic and we hope people will see things they like and consider joining our attraction or other attractions as a result.”

Family-friendly entertainment Another exciting aspect of Museum Day is that while experiencing Wichita’s great attractions for free, each of the museums is ready to show visitors how the venue is entertaining for all ages.

“One of the great things about Botanica is that it can be used for so many different reasons,” said Jenkins. “Some use it to take photos or pain, to sit and read, some exercise and some look for ideas on what to plant in their own yards.”

Fall is a beautiful time to visit Botanica, said Jenkins, and during Museum Day visitors will have the chance to see the impressive mum display. More than 5,000 mums will be in full bloom, ready to wow onlookers with their bold colors.

Botanica’s Butterfly House, a favorite amongst kids, will be open during Museum Day and Jenkins said there are many other ways for kids to have fun and even learn at Botanica. “We have a sheet of activities that you can do with your kids while at Botanica,” said Jenkins.

“We have a lot to offer families. You can see how different roses smell, try to get butterflies to land on you, challenge your kids to find different shapes or colors. Kids just love to explore nature and see the flowers, trees, leaves and all the things that are around them.”

The Ulrich Museum Art will have two exhibitions during Museum Day and will be open from 1 to 5 p.m. Art on Speed will showcase exhibits that depict how the artist sees speed.

“We thought Art on Speed would be a fun exhibition for the Wichita community,” said Veazey. “Kids love things that go fast and we have a numb of artworks that are video art, perfect for today’s visual generation with iPods and iPads and smart phones.”