Fire Museum expands summer hours

Submitted by Aurora Regional Fire Museum

In the first time in more than two years, the Aurora Regional Fire Museum is expanding its open hours through Labor Day. During this time, the museum will expand hours to include Wednesdays.

The museum will now be open for visitors to tour and explore from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

Summer at the Fire Museum provides an opportunity for more families to visit the museum and learn about fire history and fire safety.

According to board president Jim Rhodes, the "addition of a Children's Discovery Room and Education Room over the last few years we have transformed the exhibits visitors experience when visiting the museum and has led to significant increases in our visitation."

Summer at the fire museum was made possible by the generous support of an anonymous sponsor.

As part of this exciting expansion, the Aurora Regional Fire Museum is teaming up with the Aurora Area Interfaith Food Pantry for a special collaboration.

This summer, any visitor that brings a nonperishable food item or contributes to the Aurora Food Pantry will receive $1 off admission to the museum.

"Working together with the pantry allows us to bring awareness to another vital organization in our community. As anchors in our city, we wanted to partner to showcase the vital work we both do," said Executive Director Brian Failing.

On June 1 during the First Fridays event, museum visitors learned more about this collaboration and receive a free admission coupon to visit the museum when they contributed to the Aurora Area Interfaith Food Pantry.

Founded in 1981, Aurora Area Interfaith Food Pantry operates one of the largest food pantries in northern Illinois, distributing 3.6 million pounds of food to more than 19,000 of our neighbors each year in a grocery store setting.

The mission of Aurora Food Pantry is to help end local hunger by ensuring that everyone has access to enough nourishing food, thereby helping our overall community stay healthy and productive.

For more information on Aurora Food Pantry, visit www.aurorafoodpantry.org or call (630) 687-2127.

The Aurora Regional Fire Museum preserves the history of the Aurora Fire Department and fire service in our region through our collections and exhibits while educating visitors about fire safety and prevention.

From humble beginnings to the museum visitors know and love today, the museum welcomes more than 9,000 visitors annually for tours, programs, and events.

For more information about these changes or the museum, contact Brian Failing, Executive Director, at (630)

256-4140 or info@auroraregionalfiremuseum.org.