Museum Marks Free Fun Friday

While some might say that nothing in life is free, the Concord Museum would probably beg to differ. Those seeking to catch a glimpse of American history where treated to a "fun free Friday" this past week courtesy of the Highland Street Foundation who even brought a jazz band for the occasion.

"Its been hugely successful," said Rebecca Wright who is director of development at the museum. She said people like to learn about Concord's history because of the important role that it played in the country's past especially in the times leading up to the Revolution and the  the literary Renaissance in the 19th century.

The 20-year-old Highland Street Foundation is trying to make places like the Concord Museum accessible to those that might not have the money to pay for admission.

This is the second year that the program has been in operation. Free passes where also offered at places like the Ecotarium in Worcester, the sports museum in Boston, The Cape Cod Museum of Art, as well as the Bedford Whaling Museum.

Visitors seemed impressed with the Concord Museum but they also appreciated having the opportunity to visit for free. Although some said that they had planned to visit anyway and only found out about the Fun Free Friday program later.

"I do like the lantern, " said home school student Peter Haber from New Hampshire who was at the museum with his mother and sister "...the 'one if by land two if by sea' lantern." Peter said that the lantern was smaller than he expected but "its still cool though," he said.

"We like it [the Highland Street program] a lot,"  said Peter's mother Jill Haber, who said the family had taken part in the program last year. She said they would have come anyway but "It was nice to be able to come today."

Tom Goldthwaite from Chelmsford said that he wasn't aware of the Free Friday program until his wife read about the event  on the Internet and thought it might be worth checking out. He said that he "loved" the period rooms and liked the fact that there were "so many actual Concord related  items" in the collection. He said that six of his ancestors answered the Lexington Alarm in April of 1775.

"I knew it [the fun free Friday] existed though," said James Loconti of West Roxbury, who said he took the opportunity to come to the Concord Museum when he heard about it.

"It's great, I've been wanting to come here. Its a great collection," he added. Laconti said he thought the  collection of furniture was high quality and like Goldthwaite enjoyed the period rooms.