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Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
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With the opening of Pittsburgh's original Buhl
Planetarium and Institute of Popular Science in 1939,
New Year's Day was the *only* day the institution was
closed. Yes, Buhl Planetarium was open on Christmas
Day, due to the popularity of their traditional
Christmas planetarium sky drama, "The Star of
Bethlehem."

Some time in the late 1950s or early 1960s, this
policy changed. From then on, Buhl Planetarium was
open every day except Christmas Day; yes, it was then
open also on New Year's Day.

Beginning in 1954 as a special Christmas exhibit, Buhl
Planetarium started display of the Miniature Railroad
and Village, originally titled The Great Christmastown
Railroad.

Well, this exhibit was so popular that, instead of
running just during the month of December as it did
for the fist few years, it soon began running from 
November through February. And, in fact, it came to
the point where the revenue generated by the four
months of display of this one exhibit, pretty-much
paid for the rest of the year's operation of Buhl
Planetarium!

So, since Pittsburgh-area residents often hosted
out-of-town visitors during the holidays, it was
decided to open on New Year's Day, to provide an
additional opportunity for these out-of-town visitors
to see the Miniature Railroad. And, on New Year's Day,
since a lot of people watched the parades and footbal
games, the waiting lines to see this exhibit would not
be quite as long as during the very busy days between
Christmas and New Years--when waiting lines inside the
building commonly reached one hour, and sometimes two
hours!

Our experience on New Year's Day, at Buhl Planetarium,
was similar to our experience of being open on
Thanksgiving Day. Often times, we would experience our
largest crowds in the late afternoon or evening. It
seems that families would eat their main holiday meal,
then they would come to Buhl Planetarium.

To decide whether your museum should remain open on
New Year's Day, you should determine whether your area
gets a lot of out-of-town visitors over the holidays,
and whether this would truly be additional opportunity
for them to visit your museum.

I hope this helps.

For more information about Buhl Planetarium's
Miniature Railroad and Village exhibit, go to this web
page:

< http://buhlplanetarium3.tripod.com/MiniRR.htm >

gaw

>>>Original Message:
Date: Fri, 20 May 2005 15:29:12 -0400 
From: "David Goudy" <[log in to unmask]>  Add
to Address Book 
Subject: New Years Day 
To: [log in to unmask] 

ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of
Science-Technology 
Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums
and related 
institutions.
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Having been closed on New Years Day for many years, we
are considering 
whether there is sufficient audience interest to open
for this holiday 
(we are currently closed only three days a year:
Thanksgiving, 
Christmas and New Years day). For those who are open
on this day, what 
is your experience with attendance? Do you hold any
special events or 
promotions to enhance attendance that day?

Many thanks,

----------------------------------------------------
David Goudy, Director
Montshire Museum of Science
One Montshire Road
Norwich, VT 05055
802-649-2200 (V)
802-649-3637 (F)
[log in to unmask]
www.montshire.org

gaw

Glenn A. Walsh
Electronic Mail - < [log in to unmask] > 
Author of History Web Sites on the Internet --
* Buhl Planetarium, Pittsburgh: 
  < http://www.planetarium.cc > 
* Adler Planetarium, Chicago: 
  < http://adlerplanetarium.tripod.com >
* Astronomer & Optician John A. Brashear: 
  < http://johnbrashear.tripod.com > 
* Andrew Carnegie & Carnegie Libraries: 
  < http://www.andrewcarnegie.cc > 
* Duquesne Incline cable-car railway, Pittsburgh: 
  < http://www.incline.cc >

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