Free way to see museums, gardens
Tips from Sally Deneen.
Readers Earl and Patty Miller share a tip: Do you belong to a museum or botanical garden? If so, you may be able to get free regular admission to some other museums or gardens.
The couple says that their membership to a museum in Allentown, Penn., allows for free regular admission locally at such places as the NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale, HistoryMiami, Perez Art Museum Miami, the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum in Miami, and Bass Museum of Art in Miami Beach.
That’s because the museums are part of the North American Reciprocal Muse- um Association program, which lists hundreds of participating locations at its website (Narmassociation. org).
For the consumer, the way it works is you join a participating museum. At a certain level of membership, the museum places a sticker on your membership card noting that you’re entitled to free admission at other NARM museums (some have restrictions, so call ahead to check for terms).
It’s not for everyone. For example, at the Boca Raton Museum of Art and at the NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale, you’d need to join at the $150 Art Enthusiast or Museum Enthusiast levels to get the NARM benefits, according to their websites. At HistoryMiami, you’d need to spring for a $125 membership.
Similarly, if you belong to certain botanical gardens, you can get free admission to some other gardens around the U.S. that belong to the American Horticultural Society. The Millers appreciate the deal, and you can find a list of participants at AHS.org.
Flamingo Gardens in Davie honors the freebie — but only if your membership card shows you belong to a botanical garden located more than 90 miles away, according to AHS.org. That means members of Mounts Botanical Garden in West Palm Beach and Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Coral Gables can’t go to Flamingo for free.
Fairchild also enforces a 90-mile exclusion rule (and through May 31gives a 50 percent discount to members of qualifying gardens instead of free admission). On the bright side, Mounts does not enforce a 90-mile rule, according to AHS.org. And you can hit such places as Bok Tower Gardens in Lake Wales and Fort Myers’ Edison & Ford Winter Estates.
Freebie: April 15 is free cone day at participating Ben & Jerry’s, an annual tradition to thank customers for their business. Expect long lines. Hours are noon to 8 p.m. Cutting Corners appears Sundays in Community News. Email cutcorner@ aol.com or record a message at 954-356-4759.