Museums get cleared to weclome visitors after nearly 6-month closure

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — North Carolina museums are able to open back up starting Friday evening.

Many local museums are gearing up with several safety conditions put into place to protect their visitors. These include masks, limiting the number of guests, modifying or closing off “high touch” exhibits, and encouraging visitors to buy tickets online.

After losing tens of thousands of dollars in revenue, museums like the Cameron Art Museum and the Cape Fear Museum are ready to welcome guests.

“We have been closed almost six months,” Barbi Baker from the Cape Fear Museum. “It feels exciting.”

Cameron Art Museum’s John McDonnell emphasizes, “The energy that’s in the building right now with getting ready to open, I mean, we’re like, basically we’re like kids on Christmas Eve and chomping at the bit to open the presents, which to us is opening the doors for the community.”

Though some have taken this time to remodel, clean, and set up new exhibits, Heather Sellgren with the Wilmington Children’s Museum says she’s ready to bring people back in.

“It has been so quiet around here. It just echoes,” Sellgren said.

The community seems to feel the same.

“I probably had 60 calls yesterday alone just, ‘When are you opening?’, ‘What can we do to help?’, ‘Can we make reservations at the cafe?’ McDonnell listed. “And the outpour and support from the community throughout this entire time has just been unreal.”

The Cape Fear Museum opens September 8, the Wilmington Children’s Museum opens September 10, and the Cameron Art Museum opens its galleries on September 12 and cafe the 15.