Museum Day!

An e-mail from the Katonah Museum of Art reminds me that this weekend is Smithsonian Free Museum Day, when participating museums welcome Smithsonian magazine readers and Smithsonian.com visitors for free. (The actual day of the event is Saturday, September 27 but those museums that are not open on Saturday will participate on Sunday.)

A number of cultural institutions in the Hudson Valley are participating, including the Katonah Museum of Art, Mid-Hudson Children’s Museum in Poughkeepsie, Gomez Mill House Museum and Historic Site in Marlboro, and Historic Huguenot Street in New Paltz. (There are many more listed on the directory of participating museums.) You’ll need the free “admission card” in the Smithsonian magazine (or to print it from the Web site) for the free admission.

This is the fourth year for the Free Museum Day, which “reflects the spirit of the magazine, and emulates the free-admission policy of the institution’s Washington, DC-based properties.” Last year, upwards of 100,000 people attended Museum Day, with all 50 states represented in more than 650 museums, according to the release. It sounds like a great opportunity to introduce yourself (or reconnect) to the wonderful museums in our area!