Save Money by Getting Passes to Zoos, Museums, and Other Public Attractions At Your Public Library
Many Libraries Offer Access to Free or Discounted Admissions
If you would you like to take your family on an outing to the zoo, but find that it costs too much to pay all the admission fees, your local public library might be able to help with that.
If you would like to head to the local botanic gardens and take pictures of flowers, or of fall foliage, but find that your wallet is a little light, your local public library might be able to help with that, too.
More and more public libraries are partnering with cultural institutions nearby to offer access to free or discounted passes. At the library, you can get passes to zoos, children’s museums, art museums, botanical gardens, aquariums and all kinds of other local attractions.
Because the procedures for obtaining the passes vary widely from library to library, be sure to phone check your library’s website to find out how to go about getting a pass. Some libraries require that you go in person and pick up a pass. Others will let you print out a pass online. Some will let you reserve ahead of time, and others only distribute passes for that day.
I live in suburban Denver and have found that local libraries offer passes to a wildlife museum, a butterfly habitat, the Denver Art Museum, Dinosaur Ridge, a botanic gardens, a firefighters museum and a quilt museum, among others.
From Boston to Tacoma Wash., libraries are offering a wealth of admissions to popular places. Here is just a sampling:
Boston – Children’s Museum, State Parks, Harvard Museum of Natural History, Museum of Fine Arts, Museum of Science, New England Aquarium
Connecticut – American Museum of Natural History, Barnum Museum, Beardsley Zoo, Children’s Museum, Connecticut Audobon Society Bird Craft Museum, Harriet Beecher Stowe Ctr., Intrepid Sea Air and Space Museum, Mark Twain House and Museum, Museum of the City of New York, Mystic Aquarium, Norman Rockwell Museum
Miami – Deering Estate at Cutler, Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, Fruit & Spice Park, HistoryMiami, Miami Art Museum, Miami Children’s Museum, Miami Science Museum, Zoo Miami and Vizcaya Museum and Gardens
Tacoma Washington – Children’s Museum of Tacoma, Museum of Glass, Tacoma Art Museum, and Washington State History Museum
If you are looking for an outing, check with your local public library. They might have just the ticket.