What an evening! We hosted our annual Member Celebration on June 13, and – WOW! We premiered our most recent educational film: Disneynature’s Penguins, as well as From Earth to the Universe, our summer Planetarium show. As always, we served a free meal to all in attendance: Coney dogs, Kool-Aid, and freshly spun cotton candy. The menu fit perfectly with our new summer exhibit, Coney Island: Visions of and American Dreamland. Members loved the exhibit, and to give it some additional opening-night flair, we hired a local magician to perform.

To round out the experience we even set up midway games in the East Gallery. The Coney Island exhibit is on display at the Museum through August 11. It exhibit was made available to the Museum through NEH on the road, a special imitative of the National Endowment for the Humanities in partnership with the Mid-America Arts Alliance.

We had one more trick up our sleeve. Whenever Members attend this annual celebration, we try to deliver something extra special. This year, when they entered the Theatre for the Penguins film, they were also treated to a live feed from Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo on our super screen! One of the Zoo’s educators who had experience as a penguin keeper gave us a private presentation about their penguins.

Would you like to attend next summer’s Member Celebration? Join today and learn about the many benefits it provides. Better yet, join at one of the Premiere Membership levels and receive invitations to two additional exclusive events each year. Call 402.461.2399 to speak with a Visitor Services team member who can tell you more about Membership at the Hastings Museum. Join today!

Disneynature’s Penguins was sponsored locally by Oakeson Steiner Wealth and Retirement.
Platte River Radio was the film’s local media sponsor.