MILWAUKEE — Nearly a year since its first closure due to COVID-19, the Milwaukee Public Museum has re-opened to the public.
The museum, now reopen, isn’t as busy as many know it to be, but it’s open once again.
“What do you see?” Carlos Manriquez could be heard asking his daughters as they walked through an exhibit during their trip to the museum.
Manriquez brought his two young daughters for a 'daddy-daughter day' of interaction, bonding, and learning.
“I think this pandemic has really given us a great opportunity to be creative and really to explore," Manriquez said.
According to the City of Milwaukee, arts and culture in the Greater Milwaukee Area generate an economic impact of $250 million annually.
It also delivers roughly 4,000 jobs and utilized more than 9,000 volunteers.
“The community really missed being on-site and we’re grateful to be able to offer that again,” said Jenni Tetzlaff, Director of Integrated Marketing for the Milwaukee Public Museum.
Tetzlaff told TMJ4 News that since the pandemic, they kept going on virtually. Now they’re back open, they are working their way back to normal, in phases.
Some exhibits like the planetarium and butterfly exhibits are closed for now.
Tetzlaff said during the pandemic, donors and members really stepped up to the plate financially.
“Our membership renewal rate is really great. Our members called and said we still want to be members, even though we can’t come in right now,” she recalled.
Noah Jajtner and Donald Janicki are from Brookfield. Every Thursday, they schedule themselves a new learning activity for the two somewhere in Southeastern Wisconsin.
"It's just great to spend time with my grandpa, even in these hard times,” Jajtner said.
Noah, 11, understands the impact COVID-19 has had on this museum.
"To me, when you support a place, you help them so they don't fall down,” he explained.
Beginning March 4, 2021, MPM’s hours of operation are:
Thursdays – Sundays 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
According to MPM, the following parts of the Museum are closed right now:
- Dome Theater and Planetarium
- Haymarket General Store
- Puelicher Butterfly Wing
- Bugs Alive!
- Exploring Life on Earth
- Crossroads of Civilization
- Igloo in the Arctic
- Living Oceans
- Third Floor Mezzanine