"Experience America" through over 1,000 participating museums.

If you've had your eye on visiting a particular museum, you might want to hold off until fall. Smithsonian Magazine just announced that Museum Day will be returning on Saturday, September 18.

The 17th annual event, which grants free admission to participating cultural institutions, will be centered on exploring the country following the nation's lockdown during the pandemic. Last year's event was originally scheduled for April 4 before organizers canceled it due to the pandemic. The last time it was celebrated was back in 2019.

This year's theme "Experience America" will feature over 1,000 museums showcasing art, science, history, and travel.

Besides offering the chance to visit incredible museums free of charge, Museum Day is also a celebration of knowledge and expanding one's intellectual curiosity. According to the magazine, "it acts as a springboard to empower and help advance the hopes and ambitions of the public, particularly school-aged children and those in underrepresented communities." Museums are even invited to incorporate the event into special activities for the public, like scavenger hunts, nature walks, and more.

To score free entry, you'll need to reserve a ticket online. All you have to do is select the museum of your choice and fill out the required information to download your ticket. Each ticket covers admission for the original ticket holder and a guest into the museums' main spaces. Each museum will vary on requiring physical tickets, so be sure to check on the details before your visit.

So many cool places are eligible, and those of us in the DMV will be able to visit the Dumbarton House, the B&O Railroad Museum, and the Lee-Fendall House Museum & Garden. Having a hard time choosing where to go? Take a look at what museums are participating here. Tickets go live at midnight on August 18, so we recommend setting yourself an alarm—they're likely to go fast!

Have you attended Museum Day before? What museums have you visited? Share them with us in the comments, along with places you'd like to go to next!