The New England Air Museum will be reopening its five acre outdoor grounds for Memorial Day Weekend. Visitors will have an opportunity to see ten aircraft outside, peek inside exhibit hangars through open hangar doors, and even get a behind-the-scenes look into the museum’s storage hangar, a space that is rarely open to the public.
This outdoor museum experience will be free to visitors Saturday May 23, 2020 through Monday May 25, 2020 with a suggested donation of $5.00 per person. Hours of operation will be from 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. all three days. To ensure the health and safety of the museum’s visitors, staff, and volunteers, the New England Air Museum will follow all COVID-19 rules issued by Governor Ned Lamont and the Reopen Connecticut panel. No more than 200 people will be allowed onsite at any time.
“We are excited about this opportunity to welcome visitors back to our museum,” says Debbie Reed, the museum’s Executive Director. “We needed to find the right balance between keeping our visitors, staff, and volunteers safe at while also providing a great experience. I believe the planning we have done will accomplish this,” Reed says.
The New England Air Museum voluntarily closed its doors on March 14, 2020 to assist the state in its efforts to control the spread of COVID-19. In the weeks since, all of the museum’s interior spaces and exhibits have been thoroughly cleaned and sanitized. The museum’s staff has also continued working, primarily from home, to develop education content for families and aviation enthusiasts across the region through its NEAMathome website and social media platforms. Until the State of Connecticut relaxes the rules further and allows for the opening of interior museum spaces, the New England Air Museum will allow visitors to access its outdoor grounds following essential social distancing practices. Details of the museum’s plans for the remainder of the summer will be released shortly.