Reminder: Free Museum Day Almost Here

Tampa Bay area residents eager to check out some of the region’s most popular museums may want to put Sept. 26 on their calendars.

That’s the day venues across the country and throughout Tampa Bay plan to open their doors for free during Smithsonian magazine’s Museum Day Live event. Visitors can get free admission to participating venues simply by printing out tickets online via the Smithsonian website. Each ticket provides entry at no charge for two people.

The Tampa Bay History Center has taken part in the event for several years running. This year is no exception.

“Museum Day is a great way to showcase the many diverse museums we have in Tampa Bay,” said the center’s director of marketing, Manny Leto. The annual event provides “a great way for people to see what we do.”

To make sure that Saturday is extra special, the history center plans to have living history re-enactors onsite representing Florida’s Civil War-era history. In addition, the museum’s “Florida’s Got the Blues” traveling exhibit will still be in town. It features a look at the state’s ties to blues music from Tampa Red all the way down to the Allman Brothers Band.

The museum is a Smithsonian affiliate; one of only three in the Bay area and 13 in the state.

To get free tickets for Museum Day, visit the Smithsonian online.

Here’s a listing of all the participating museums in the Tampa Bay area, according to the Smithsonian:

Tampa

• Cracker Country, 4800 Highway 301 N.
• Tampa Bay History Center, 801 Old Water St.
• Tampa Museum of Art, 120 W. Gasparilla Plaza
• Ybor City Museum State Park, 1818 E. 9th Avenue
• Henry B. Plant Museum, 401 W. Kennedy Blvd.
• Florida Museum of Photographic Arts, 400 N. Ashley Drive, Cube 200

St. Petersburg

• Museum of Fine Arts, 255 Beach Drive, N.E.
• The Florida Holocaust Museum, 55 Fifth St. S.
• Florida CraftArt, 501 Central Ave.

Sarasota

• The Ringling, 5401 Bay Shore Road

Bradenton

• Manatee Village Historical Park, 1404 Manatee Ave. E.
• South Florida Museum, 201 10th St. W.

Tarpon Springs

• Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art, 600 Klosterman Road

Lakeland

• Polk Museum of Art, 800 E. Palmetto St.
• Explorations V Children’s Museum, 109 N. Kentucky Ave.

Largo

• Armed Forces History Museum, 2050 34th Way N.

Parrish

• Florida Railroad Museum, 12210 83rd St. E.

Photo courtesy of the Tampa Bay History Center