When we’re not in airports, we’re in museums. And right now we’re waiting for the green light to do both.
Here are some of the museums and museums exhibitions on our list.
Museum of Flight – March 4
The Museum of Flight in Seattle will reopen on Thursday, March 4 through Sunday, March 7. After that, the museum will be open every Thursday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. until further notice. Attendance will be limited to 25% capacity.
All five buildings on the 23-acre campus, including the open-air, 3-acre Aviation Pavilion will be available to visitors. Smaller galleries, some airplane cabins, and the flight simulators will be closed for COVID-19 safety. But the museum’s Air Force One, Boeing 747, and 787 Dreamliner will be open.
The Unfiltered Truth Collection in Louisville, KY, launching in March 2012, will highlight the African American influence in Kentucky with a special focus on bourbon, horse racing industries, and Muhammad Ali.
Seven local attractions will be sharing new Black heritage experiences and historical perspectives. Two are already available. The Ideal Bartender Experience at Evan Williams celebratesthe Black bartender who made the Old Fashioned famous in the first cocktail book, from 1917. The Kentucky Derby Museum’s new tour tells the story of the African Americans that once headlined the Thoroughbred racing scene.
Music for the Great Sun at Exhibit C Gallery
On March 1, Exhibit C, a Native American art gallery in Oklahoma City, OK owned by the Chickasaw Nation, debuts work by Native American glass artist Preston Singletary and Choctaw artist Marcus Amerman.
For his show, Music for the Great Sun, the two artists joined forces to create work inspired by ancient pieces that were originally made by the Cahokia Moundbuilders imperial craftsmen. The Great Sun was a divine god-king of the Cahokia Moundbuilders, and both the political and religious leader of this ancient class-stratified society.
(My story about museums welcoming back visitors first appeared on NBC)
Ready to leave your house and spend some time in a museum?
With all 50 states in some stage of post-pandemic reopening, many museums are back welcoming visitors to art- and history-filled halls.
Doing so signals a return to “normal” in many communities — but it may also help plug the economic hole created when almost every museum in the country closed its doors in response to COVID-19 concerns.
“All museum revenue related to admission, gift shop and café sales evaporated, along with event rentals,” said Laura Lott, president and CEO of the American Alliance of Museums, which pegs the loss at $33 million a day. “As many as one-third of the nation’s national cultural treasures may never reopen.”
Museums that are opening are doing so with extreme caution and close attention to social distancing, health and safety. Here is a sampling of what visitors will encounter.
Elvis Presley’s Graceland, Memphis, Tennessee
It’s sexy when Elvis Presley croons about feeling his temperature rising in the classic “Burning Love.” But now that the gates at Graceland are reopened, anyone with a fever 100.4 degrees or higher is not allowed to enter the shrine to the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll.
In addition to mandatory temperature checks, the attraction is limiting entry to just 25 percent of normal capacity and encouraging guests to wear masks. It is using commercial-grade cleaners, including UV light sanitizer wands and disinfectant foggers, to sanitize the campus.
The museum has its own speakeasy and, while supplies last, will be giving each guest a complimentary bottle of ethanol hand sanitizer made in the on-site distillery.
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Cleveland
If it stayed closed through the end of the year, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame would be facing a $12 million loss in revenue. So the museum is eager to reopen to the public by June 15.
“We have been blowing the doors off with virtual offerings on our website and reaching people where they are at this time,” said museum CEO Greg Harris, “We think that will increase the number of people that now desire to visit the museum in person.”
When the doors do open, there will be timed entry, limited capacity and newly hired nurses at the entrance to take everyone’s temperatures. The museum will reserve certain hours for at-risk groups such as seniors. Rock ‘n’ roll-themed masks will be provided to visitors who arrive without their own.
Many touch screens will be turned off until the museum installs antimicrobial covers, and “The Garage,” an exhibit that encourages visitors to play instruments and jam with others, will be closed.
Ripley’s Believe it or Not! – Branson
Ripley’s Believe it or Not! museum (home of the world’s largest roll of toilet paper) opened over Memorial Day weekend with reduced capacity and new social distancing and sanitizing systems. The odditorium is evaluating how the protocols are working out before opening for the summer season.
Wonders of Wildlife National Museum and Aquarium, Springfield, Missouri
To accommodate social distancing, timed entries, enhanced cleaning procedures and limits on daily attendance, the attraction is extending its opening hours. Confined spaces like the swinging bridge are temporarily closed; interactive experiences, such as the penguin encounter, are being modified; and the museum is adopting the COVID-19 response plan developed by the Florida Aquarium in Tampa and the Infectious Disease Prevention team at Tampa General Hospital.
New York City’s iconic Met said it plans to reopen in mid-August or whenever the city meets the phased-in reopening requirements.
The museum’s three locations — The Met Fifth Avenue, The Met Cloisters and The Met Breuer — have been closed since mid-March.
“The Met has endured much in its 150 years, and today continues as a beacon of hope for the future,” President Daniel Weiss said in a statement last week. The institution will belatedly celebrate its 150th anniversary next year, he said.
Buffalo Bill Center of the West, Cody, Wyoming
The 40-acre Buffalo Bill Center of the West reopened May 7 with added staff members during peak hours to keep surfaces in the center’s five museums clean. Now that the south and east entrances to Yellowstone National Park are open, the museum is fine-tuning its new protocols and preparing to welcome more visitors.
Kentucky Derby Museum and Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory, Kentucky
Museums, aquariums, zoos and distilleries in Kentucky cannot reopen before June 8. But in Louisville, key attractions including the Kentucky Derby Museum and the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory are already ringing up sales in their gift shops.
