Looking for ways to have fun, family outings, but you’re on a limited budget? Here are some venues offering military discounts on admission this summer.
–Blue Star Museums: Morris Museum is one of more than 1,500 museums across America that will participate in the Blue Star Museums program. The program will offer free admission to active duty military personnel and their families (military ID holder and up to five family members) this summer from Tuesdayto Sept. 2.
Active duty military includes Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, active duty National Guard and active duty Reserve members.
Blue Star Museums is a collaboration between the National Endowment for the Arts, Blue Star Families, the Department of Defense. Participating museums can be found at www.arts.gov/bluestarmuseums.
––Georgia’s participating museums include:
Augusta: Lucy Craft Laney Museum of Black History, Morris Museum of Art
Athens: Georgia Museum of Art
Atlanta: Atlanta History Center, David J. Sencer CDC Museum, High Museum of Art, Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum, Margaret Mitchell House, The Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia
Savannah: Savannah-Ogeechee Canal Museum & Nature Center, Telfair Museums
Thomson: Hickory Hill
Washington: Robert Toombs House Historic Site
––South Carolina’s participating museums include:
Charleston: Gibbes Museum of Art
Columbia: Columbia Museum of Art, South Carolina Law Enforcement Officers Hall of Fame, South Carolina Military Museum
–World of Coca-Cola: All active duty, reserves and retired members of the Armed Forces receive free admission to the World of Coca-Cola year round. The complimentary admission is valid only for the actual Armed Forces member. Regular admission rates will apply to family members and guests.
Members of the Armed Forces must present a valid Armed Forces ID card at the ticketing window
–National Parks and Public Lands: Several U.S. government agencies have launched an annual pass to active duty service members and their dependents, granting free access to more than 2,000 national parks, wildlife refuges, national forests and other public lands around the nation in the coming years.
Starting this month, active duty service men and women in the Army, Marines, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, and activated National Guard and Reserves can obtain the new military version of the “America the Beautiful – The National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Annual Pass.” The pass will be accepted at National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Reclamation, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Army Corps sites that charge entrance or standard amenity fees.
The pass can be picked up at any national park or wildlife refuge that charges an entrance fee or other selected sites. Members must show a current, valid military identification card. The pass is also available to dependents of active duty personnel.
The pass covers the owner and accompanying passengers in a single, private, non-commercial vehicle at recreation sites that charge per vehicle. When per-person entrance fees are charged, it covers the pass owner and three adults age 16 and older. There is no entry fee for children 15 and under.
The pass is not available to veterans and retirees, but many of these individuals are eligible for other discounted passes.
Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in Folkston, Ga. is one of the participating U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service National Wildlife Refuges. For more information, visit: http://store.usgs.gov/pass/index.html.
