Cancel your weekend plans, because the Smithsonian Institution is giving Americans the perfect excuse to be tourists in their own cities. On Saturday, September 23, more than 1,200 museums around the country will be offering free admission as part of Smithsonian magazine's annual Museum Day Live event, Money reports.
The museum conglomerate has made it incredibly easy to find a participating museum or gallery: On the Museum Day Live website, you can narrow down the 1,278 participating institutions by searching by state or zip code to find the closest ones. Once you've chosen a museum, fill out an online form with your name, email address, and the museum, and your two free tickets will be available for immediate download on the website and sent to your inbox. Some museums will allow mobile tickets while others require a printed copy, so be sure to read the fine print before heading to the museum on Saturday.
As Money notes, although the free tickets do not include add-ons like IMAX movies, special exhibitions, and parking, they will get you access to the main exhibits of some of the country's greatest museums. Participating institutions include the Chicago History Museum, L.A.'s California African American Museum, the Memphis Music Hall of Fame, Boston's Museum of Fine Arts, the Philadelphia History Museum, and the Museum of the City of New York. Several of the finest exhibitions in Washington, D.C., will also be offering free admission on Saturday, including the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the National Building Museum, the United States Botanic Garden, and the Newseum.
Notably absent from the list are the ultra-Instagramable Museum of Ice Cream's Los Angeles and San Francisco outposts, but you can always satisfy your sweet tooth by using the money you saved on museum admission to buy an overpriced stick of rock candy from the gift shop.