Date & Time: Sun., Sept. 7, 5 p.m.

Location:  Peoria Riverfront Museum · 222 S.W. Washington St. · Peoria 

Aug. 28 – It’s hard to believe, but The Science of Ripley’s Believe it or Not! exhibit at Peoria Riverfront Museum will be closing in just over a week. 

More than 55,000 visitors stopped through museum exhibits to date in the three months since Ripley’s opened on May 27. The figure, which does not include theater visits, sets a record for exhibit attendance at the museum so far. Last year’s exhibit attendance figure for the same timeframe was just over 47,000. 

The museum also hosted a number of special groups, including US Rep. Aaron Schock with Summer Reading Program participants, a delegation from Jwaneng, Botswana (a potential sister city to Peoria), and the Office of Illinois Tourism’s Illinois Roadshow. 

Ripley’s Believe it or Not! Bizarre Buying Bazaar – an “Antiques Roadshow” of oddities – came to the Midwest for the first time ever when museum hosted it earlier in August. Long-time Ripley’s curator, Edward Meyer, proclaimed that Peoria was the Bazaar’s weirdest stop yet after the museum’s two-day show attracted the most oddities ever brought in to a show. The prior stop was New York City. 

The Science of Ripley’s Believe it or Not! exhibit will officially close Sept. 7 at 5 p.m. 

Two new art exhibits will be taking its place. “Impressionism into Modernism: A Paradigm Shift in American Art,” Sept. 26 – Jan. 11, will feature American painters and visual artists from the early 1900s into the 1940s. The works of Olof Krans, Bishop Hill, will be displayed Oct. 11 – Apr. 26.  

The Peoria Riverfront Museum is the collaborative effort of eight organizations, with nearly 500 years of combined experience educating, entertaining, and supporting our diverse Peoria-area culture. Our mission is to inspire lifelong learning for all – connecting art, history, science, and achievement through collections, exhibitions, and programs.