Sacramento’s Free Museum Weekend brought history to life with an exciting opportunity for discovery. During the first weekend in March, over 20 museums collaborated to bring an unforgettable experience to the Sacramento community. Around 30,000 tickets were available to the public to reserve.
Various venues that participated included Verge Center for the Arts, Sutter’s Fort, State Indian Museum, State Capitol Museum, Sojourner Truth African American Museum, Sacramento History Museum, SMUD Museum of Science and Curiosity, and others. Each participating museum offered its own educational exhibits and interactive experiences.
Crocker Art Museum provided a collection of art pieces that visitors could view at their own pace. With over 25,000 objects displayed in creative fashions, Crocker showcased the arts in an imaginative and educational environment over three floors. A feature of this museum is its consistent rotation of exhibits. They offer new displays periodically while also featuring a permanent collection.
While the size of this museum may seem daunting, each floor is easily accessible with elevators and wide spaces. They offer a variety of exhibits that encompass history throughout the world. Some of these include African art, Oceanic Art, Art of the Ancient Americas, Asian Art, European Art, American Art and Californian Art.
Sacramento local Yazmin Garcia shared her experience at Crocker Art Museum.
“I’ve never been to an art museum so I have nothing to base it on, but I have been very interested. We have been here quite a while now, and I love reading all about it,” Garcia said.
One of the more interactive museums offered for the Free Museum Weekend was the SMUD Museum of Science and Curiosity. While it was available for all ages, it caters primarily to younger audiences, with more hands-on project-based exhibits. Live astronomy shows are offered in the theater in addition to the museum experience. With over 100 seats and six 4K projectors, it provided an immersive and unique way to explore the wonders of the universe.
Kaitlin Conrad, a local, visited due to her son’s adamance about attending. She offered insight into her favorite SMUD exhibits and the importance of water saving.
“I really like the space exhibit upstairs. I also liked the water exhibit because it was all about local water resources and environmental protection. It’s something that I think about when day- -to-day water saving,” Conrad said.
The Sacramento History Museum featured numerous exhibits. With a variety of art and physical collections highlighting the importance of Sacramento’s past, this museum offered an intriguing experience for both locals and tourists. Its current collections are Chinese Pioneers, A History of African American Educators, Earthquakes to Epidemics, and Mómtim Péwinan, River People.
Local visitors Cameron Smith and Alta Briggs attended multiple museums over the weekend. Starting from Don & June Salvatori California Pharmacy Museum, they worked their way toward the Railroad Museum and eventually the Sacramento History Museum. The pair noted their favorite information they learned from the Pharmacy Museum.
“They had old poison bottles, which was really cool to see. They explained how the glass was made and how you know it is poison based on the glass,” Briggs said.
