Museum Crawl – Hamilton Civic Museums are FREE May 5 & 6

HAMILTON, ON - Hamilton Civic Museums will be open free to the public on Saturday May 5 and Sunday May 6 from 10 am to 4 pm in recognition of May is Museum Month and Jane’s Walk.

All eight City owned and operated museums, including five National Historic Sites, will open their doors featuring free tours and unique programming: Dundurn Castle, The Hamilton Military Museum, Whitehern Historic House & Garden, Battlefield House Museum & Park, Hamilton Museum of Steam & Technology, Fieldcote Memorial Park & Museum, Griffin House, and the Hamilton Children’s Museum. Three Jane’s Walks have been developed in collaboration with select museums.

“Hamilton Civic Museums partner with the `May is Museum Month’ program because we recognize it is a fabulous opportunity to increase access to the City-operated museums, and our involvement with the Jane’s Walk initiative speaks to our close relationship with neighbourhoods and communities.”

Ian Kerr-Wilson, Manager of Heritage Resource Management, Tourism and Culture Division

• The International Council of Museums established May 18 as International Museums Day in the 1970s. 
• Some 30,000 museums in 120 countries hold events. 
• In the year 2000, the Ontario Museum Association established `May is Museum Month’ and the Hamilton Civic Museums began presenting an annual free admission weekend.
• In 2003, Doors Open Hamilton was formed by a group of community heritage supporters and the City’s museums aligned their free weekend with this community event.
• Jane’s Walk is an annual festival of free, citizen-led walking conversations inspired by Jane Jacobs.
• Jane Jacobs (1916-2006) was a writer, urbanist and activist who championed the voices of everyday people in neighbourhood planning and city-building.

For detailed information about these events, please visit www.hamilton.ca/museumcrawl.
For information about all Hamilton-based Jane’s Walks, visit www.janeswalk.org/canada/hamilton.