OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — Many museums don't encourage touching but the Strategic Air Command and Aerospace (SAC) museum in Ashland offers a very interactive experience.
The museum has a flight simulator and displays with touch screens. Because of this, during the pandemic, it voluntarily closed down for two months.
"It started to slow down a bit in the fall and winter and a big part of that was that we were not able to have a lot of the field trips. School districts had made the decision so field trips were out of the question,” said John Lefler, Jr., Marketing Director with the SAC museum.
During the shutdown, they came up with cleaning protocols and safety guidelines to keep guests and employees safe when they reopen. Luckily, they did not have to lay off any employees.
"Our president and CEO Jeff Cannon stepped up and promised us that he was going to do everything in his power to keep us all here and he did. We are all extremely thankful for that," said Lefler.
Thanks to generous donations and support of guests locally, regionally and even nationally, they are open and ready for visitors once again.
If you want to head to the museum and you are still feeling a bit skeptical about being around people, they have 330,000 square feet of space for plenty of social distancing.
Guests can feel free to ride and once again touch items and take a closer look at the mechanical drawings for those looking for a deeper experience.
They have a few upcoming events they are excited about and are confident they will have guests flying high with anticipation.
"We have our helicopter day coming up May 22, which we were not able to do last year so we are excited about that. We are going to have helicopters out in the parking lot and helicopter rides people will be able to take,” said Lefler.
Visit their website here.
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