Blue Star summer

Museums offer free admission to military service members and family through Labor Day

With Memorial Day weekend around the corner and summertime inching ever closer, museums in California and across the country are opening their doors for complimentary entry to active-duty military and their families as part of the Blue Star Museums program.

Now until Labor Day, military personnel and up to five members of their family are offered no-cost admission at 130 institutions in California and nearly 2,000 nationally. Options for California’s military families fall all along the spectrum of subjects, with something to spark the interest of every member of the family.

Adventure in the outdoors at the Turtle Bay Exploration Park in Redding. Pay a visit to the literary world at the Steinbeck Center in Salinas. Go beyond the stars at the Space Station Museum in Novato. Treat the kids to a day at the Children’s Discovery Museum in San Diego. Visit the longest-operating art museum west of the Mississippi at the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, or immerse yourself in Kumeyaay-Diegueño Native culture at the Barona Cultural Center & Museum in Lakeside. The full list of museums for the 2019 season is available here.

Blue Star Museums is an initiative from the National Endowment for the Arts, in partnership with Blue Star Families, the Department of Defense, and participating institutions. For more information, please visit www.arts.gov/national/blue-star-museums.