Lake County libraries offer free and reduced-price passes to area attractions; ‘It is culturally and educationally important’

Lake County residents thinking about visiting a museum in the Chicago area, or perhaps the Brookfield Zoo or Chicago Botanic Garden, may want to check with their local library to learn about free or reduced admissions.

Jennyfer Cordova, the communications manager for the Waukegan Public Library, said most libraries in the county and beyond are part of the Museum Adventure Pass Program which provides free or reduced-priced passes.

The Museum Adventure Pass Program offers people with library cards the ability to obtain free or reduced-price admission to more than 20 venues in the greater Chicago area, making them more accessible to families.

Cordova said people can log onto the library’s website or the program’s online portal to see which museums and attractions participate in the program and what is offered. They must come to their local library and present their card to receive the passes.

Amy Grossman, the library’s assistant executive director, said she talked to a patron Friday looking for something for their family to do over winter break. Grossman introduced them to the program and they walked out with a passes to the botanic garden.

“It was a family with a mom, a dad and three kids,” Grossman said. “I showed them the selection and told them the botanic garden was one of the closest. They got the pass for the botanic garden and are coming back next week to go to the Brookfield Zoo.”

Though the number of passes is not limitless, Cordova said the museums and other attractions replenish them on a regular basis. A cardholder is limited to one a week. The pass is also good for a week, so the outing need not be immediate.

Not all offers from the participating organizations are the same. Cordova said some allow multiple people to enter with a pass. When admission is already free, other special discounts are usually available. Some times and dates are excluded.

“This is a way for people in Waukegan to experience museums and other cultural places, and do it in an affordable way,” Cordova said. “The program has been going on for over seven years. We keep letting people know about it. It’s especially popular in summer.”

Stephanie Scaletta, the communications and outreach manager of the Deerfield Public Library, said it also participates. It provides cultural opportunities which people may not know exist.

“We reach out to people and let them know about it,” Scaletta said. “It is culturally and educationally important.”

While some places are a longer trip from Lake County, like the Children’s Museum in Oak Lawn, Cordova said others are closer, like Bess Bower Dunn Museum of Lake County in Libertyville and the auto museum in Volo.

Grossman said the program also introduces people to things they may not know exist, as it did for her when she got a pass to visit Cantigny Park in Wheaton. There is a military museum and gardens, but historic homes got her attention.

“I really like historic homes,” Grossman said, referring to the mansion of the late Robert R. McCormick. “He was the publisher of the Chicago Tribune. I wouldn’t have known about it if I was not looking at the list of museums.”

Other participating organizations include the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center in Skokie, the American Writers Museum in Chicago, the Cernan Earth and Space Center in River Grove and Illinois Railway Museum in Union.

Along with Waukegan and Deerfield, other participants include the North Chicago Public Library, the Zion-Benton Public Library, the Warren-Newport Library in Gurnee, the Cook Memorial Library in Libertyville, the Fremont Public Library in Mundelein, the Grayslake Public Library and the Lake Forest Library, among many others.