Saturday, April 12, 2008

GR residents get special perks at library


On a recent trip to the GR public library downtown I found out about some incredible perks residents of the city of GR can get if they have a FREE membership there. I was sad to learn that you have to live within the city limits so I don't qualify. But if you have the right address you're going to want to check this out. And pay close attention to the details - they really matter.

The GR public library offers free passes to a variety of events. Here's the list I was given:
1. Children's Museum
2. John Ball Zoo
3. Gerald R. Ford Museum
4. Frederick Meijer Garden
5. GR Art Museum
6. GR Public Museum
7. GR Griffins games
8. Calvin College Festival of faith and writing series
9. Civic Theater performances
Even the ballet and symphony sometimes!

I was shocked when I saw that they offer you FREE passes so I had to find out more. Here's how it works -
You must have a GR public library card! This can only happen for people in the city limits. Then you should call to find out when the passes are going to be available next and mark your calendar to call as early as possible on that day. What you'll get is similar to a credit card. But it works more like a gift card. Once you've got it you can have a 6 day pass for 6 people to the first 6 locations on the list. The others are by event only. You can "check out" these passes right from the library. But they get checked out for a whole year so you have to call to find out when they'll be back. That's why you need to be first in line to get the ones you want. You can only check out the pass once a year. But you'll get it for FREE if you get in on time to "check it out".

The disappointment I felt about not being a GR city resident was short lived when I remembered that a lot of those places have cheap or FREE days anyways. So for those of you who don't live in the city can still get access at low or no cost. I've blogged about almost all of these before so I'll do a recap now so it's fresh in your mind -

Children's Museum
-Thursdays from 5-8pm everyone gets in for $1

John Ball Zoo
-From Dec.-Feb. you can go for free and they usually have 2-3 FREE days during the summer

GR Art Museum
-Tuesdays from 1-5pm you can check out the new museum for FREE

GR Public Museum
-Mondays are FREE to anyone who can show a license with a GR address on it. And you can get tickets for those that are with you.

Civic Theater
-Dress Rehearsal nights are $5 to those that get there around 5pm!

So don't fret if you're not a city resident. There's enough freebies to go around.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Ford Museum is also free on President Ford's Birthday, it's around July 14th.

Anonymous said...

The posting states that the passes get checked out for a whole year but they get checked out for a week. Also, there are only 2 for each place which is why it's important to call and see if they're available. You can't hold them over the phone so if you REALLY want them, you need to go to the library branch that opens earliest that day- the Main Library downtown.