More than 1,200 museums and other cultural institutions offered free admission as part of the annual Museum Day Live! sponsored by the Smithsonian Magazine and inspired by the Smithsonian museums, where admission is always free on September 24.

Museum goers enjoyed their free trip to participating museums and cultural institutions provided that they registered online through the magazine's website and printed their voucher or saved it on their smartphones ahead of time. They also got to bring one guest with them as long as they also registered online. The tickets and vouchers were only valid for one museum, so museum goers had to decide which museum they really wanted to go to.

Museums that are usually closed during Saturdays opened their gates for free to museum goers on September 25.

However, the tickets were not valid for special exhibits, parking, or IMAX film screenings, as reported by the CN Traveler.

Lots of museums participated in the annual celebration including The Museum of Flight in Seattle which houses one of the country's largest air and space exhibits to All Things Oz Museum in New York which features collectibles from the film as and history on the author L. Frank Baum, people enjoyed their free museum pass which which was valid throughout the day.

The Intrepid Sea, Air, & Space Museum in New York where tickets usually cost $26, the Newseum in Washington D.C ($22), and the  ʻIolani Palace also participated in the celebration.

The Smithsonian Magazine helped museum goers identify if a museum nearby participated in the celabration by providing a link in their site which featured a map which made people's itinerary for the weekend a lot easier.

The Smithsonian Day Live! is already on it's 12th year anniversary and has been celebrating it with giving away free museum passes to people.