Creation Museum Celebrates One Year

Editor’s note: This article was adapted from a news release that was recently distributed to the media.

After opening with much fanfare and acclaim one year ago on Memorial Day weekend, and with over 387,000 visitors to date, the Answers in Genesis Creation Museum plans to make its first anniversary no less spectacular. It will also mark the opening of a petting zoo across the lake from the museum.

Beginning on May 23 and running through June 1, the museum has multiple special events scheduled daily, including popular museum speakers, a live musical theatrical production, the petting zoo with exotic animals, and tethered hot air balloon rides over the beautiful 49-acre museum grounds. The first day’s activities will be capped off by a stellar fireworks show by Rozzi’s Famous Fireworks. Other events will also run throughout Memorial Day weekend and week, concluding Sunday afternoon, June 1.

“We have so much to celebrate, with all the attention that the museum has received and the number of people we have reached with the Creation message,” said Ken Ham, Answers in Genesis president, CEO, and the visionary behind the museum. “We are grateful for God’s blessings, and look forward to welcoming our 400,000th visitor very soon.”

We have so much to celebrate, with all the attention that the museum has received and the number of people we have reached with the Creation message.

The 70,000-square foot, state-of-the-art museum with planetarium, designed to bring the Bible to life, opened just west of the Cincinnati Airport on May 28, 2007. It was anticipated the museum would see annual crowds of 250,000. Attendance is approaching 390,000 guests, wildly surpassing expectations. Several of the world’s major media have also toured this high-tech center.

Soon after opening, the museum expanded its exhibits, adding a 4,500 square foot, two-story Dinosaur Den that features sculpted dinosaurs along with bones from the creatures and real dinosaur eggs. Throughout the year, the museum features a schedule of revolving speakers in order to attract repeat visitors. A children’s reading program was added to the line-up, and the first live theatrical production launched at the museum in February.

The museum’s second production, “Let the Rain Come” (the story of Noah and the Ark, with plenty of music), will debut during the Creation Celebration events, which will continue the program of daily speakers and “Dino-Mite Readers.”

Children are also the focus of the petting zoo, which will feature unique and exotic animals such as llamas and miniature donkeys and goats. (In June, a “zorse,” a “zonkey,” and some alpacas will arrive at the zoo.) There will be face-painting, paint-the-dinosaur activities, and a general festival atmosphere.

The media are especially invited to the petting zoo’s opening at noon, May 23.

In addition, on Friday evening, May 30, the museum will feature a “Stargazers Night at the Creation Museum,” beginning at 8:30 p.m. This is by reservation only — call 800-778-3390.

Extended summer hours for the museum are 10 a.m.-9 p.m. on Fridays, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. on Saturdays, and noon to 6 p.m. on Sundays (Sunday hours begin Memorial Day weekend and run through Labor Day weekend). The regular weekday hours for Monday through Thursday remain 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Answers in Genesis is an apologetics ministry (i.e., confirming the validity of the Bible) headquartered adjacent to the museum. With a total staff of 280, the organization conducts more than 300 teaching events each year; hosts an award-winning website (with up to 95,000 visitors per day); publishes the Answers magazine, with a paid circulation of 60,000; and produces the syndicated Answers with Ken Ham radio program heard on more than 900 stations throughout the United States.