FREMONT, Ohio — Museums in the state of Ohio were given the go-ahead to reopen June 10, but not all were ready to open their doors on day one.
Leaders with the Hayes Presidential Center are taking their time to make sure state guidelines are adhered to, and are preparing to start back up next week.
The Hayes Presidential Library and Museum closed its doors on March 13 due to the coronavirus. Since then, employees have been creatively finding ways to continue sharing their wealth of knowledge online.
"This time of year, we have a lot of school tours, or before school was out we had a lot of school tours scheduled. And of course those couldn't happen, so we put together a virtual school tour. We had a virtual house tour, some gallery talks, some looks at our exhibit..." Hayes Presidential Center Marketing and Communications Manager Kristina Smith said.
However, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has since loosened restrictions on entertainment venues like the Hayes museum. On June 16, the center will reopen at limited capacity to members only, and will continue to be members-only on June 18 and June 20. Then, on Tuesday June 23, the center will fully open its doors to the public.
Visitors will be required to wear masks inside of the Hayes home and inside of the library due to tight quarters, but are only recommended to do so inside the museum itself.
For the foreseeable future, the center will only be open on a limited schedule of Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
"That gives us a chance to really clean and disinfect on the days that we're closed. And, of course, we have some extra procedures for cleaning and disinfecting while we're open," Smith said.
Though the Hayes Center's Independence Day concert won't be able to host a crowd, they are working with WGTE to stream the concert on July 4.