It’s Springtime, and time to go out exploring. You won’t have to go far from home though, as your library has some great adventures available through the Museum Adventure Pass.
I talked recently to Deanna Howard, director of the Plano Community Library District. She tells us, “Most of the libraries in our area offer the Museum Adventure Pass. With your library card you can get free or discounted admission to participating museums. There are 24 museums in the greater Chicagoland area that are participating, and they are all listed in the brochure along with the discount they offer.”
To participate, an individual would have to have a library card in good standing, “Each participating library will have a number of passes to each attraction,” Deanna said, adding, “Passes are given out on a first come first serve basis, and issued at one pass per family per week. Once the pass is issued it is good for the next seven days,” she said, adding “So, be sure to think ahead realizing that you will need to use the pass within that one-week window.”
The Museum Adventure Pass is a popular program. The most popular site in the program is the Brookfield Zoo, so Deanna said that there may be times this summer that passes to that location will not be available. However there are many to choose from that would interest both youth and adults, including the Air Classic Museum, the American Writer’s Museum, the Aurora Regional Fire Museum, the Bess Bower Dunn Museum of Lake County, The Bronzeville Children’s Museum, Cantigny Park, the Cernan Earth and Space Center, the Chicago Botanical Garden, The Children’s Museum of Oak Lawn, The Elgin History Museum, The Elgin Public Museum, The Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center, The Illinois Railway Museum, The Kids Work Children’s Museum, The Geneva Lake Museum, the Lizzardo Museum of Lapidary Art, The Mitchell Museum of the American Indian, Naper Settlement, The Oriental Institute Museum, Pleasant Home Foundation, St. Charles Heritage Museum, the Elwood House Museum, and the Volo Auto Museum.
Each library pays a participation fee as a service to their patrons and each participating Library receives four passes per week to all these great sites. But you must stop into your home library to get the passes. So, Deanna suggests that it is best to call your library to see if there are passes available to your preferred attraction. You can learn more about the Museum Adventure Pass online at https://www.museum
adventure.org.
Another great program offering adventure is Explore More Illinois, a program that allows Illinois public library cardholders access discounts at museums, park districts, historical societies, zoos, arts centers, recreational facilities, and other attractions across the state. Offers are available three months in advance, and the website is searchable by date, the name of the attraction or by location. Just log in online at https://exploremoreillinois.org/ choose your library from those listed on the website and then add your library card information to access discounts at museums such as the Chicago Children’s Museum, the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry, the Abraham Lincoln Library & Museum in Springfield, and many others.
So, plan some new adventures this spring and summer and become a hometown tourist. First, fetch your library card and head on out to your local library!
Barb Nadeau is a freelance writer, whose career has included more than 10 years as a public relations professional, 22 years as a professional television and radio host, print journalist, and volunteer coordination professional, networking among non-profit social service agencies and service providers throughout the State of Illinois. She is in her third term as an elected alderman in the City of Plano. Contact Barb at bvnadeau@gmail.com.