Hastings Museum of Natural and Cultural History

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Wild Wild West

It's a wild, wild west summer at the Hastings Museum of Natural and Cultural History in Hastings, Nebraska.

Ride Around the World will kick off the summer's festivities with its premier on June 5 in the Lied Super Screen Theatre. Ride Around the World takes you on a spectacular journey through Argentina, British Columbia, Chile, Mexico, Morocco, Spain and Texas to meet vaqueros, gauchos, baqueanos and cowboys - all part of a single global horse culture, an unbroken trail stretching back over a thousand years. Showing several times daily June 5 through December 3.

Take in the new exhibit, Ride 'Em Cowboy! This interactive exhibit will have you dressing up as a cowboy, roping your own steer and singing old songs around the campfire. Relive the days of the old west June 5 through January 13.

Learn how cowboys viewed the stars in our special sky show, The Cowboy Astronomer, narrated by Baxter Black in the J.M. McDonald Planetarium. This delightful sky show will run daily beginning June 5 through August 19. Ride Around the World, Ride 'Em Cowboy and The Cowboy Astronomer are all sponsored by Hastings College, Pershing Orthodontics, KHAS-TV, Trade West and Yellow Book.

Celebrate the life of the cowboy during our Chuckwagon Roundup, Saturday, July 21, noon to 4:00 p.m. in the Museum parking lot. Enjoy a BBQ lunch, go on an old fashioned wagon ride and hear some great country music. Sponsors for this event are Ellis Disposal and Tom's Tree Service.

Grandparents and their favorite youngsters are invited to get together at the Museum for our annual Junior/Senior Tea & Tour, Monday, July 9 beginning at 9:00 a.m. Join us for great refreshments, a large-format film, planetarium show and Museum viewing all for one low price. Sponsor for this event is Stromer Land Leveling.

Kids - it's not too late to sign up for our SummerFun Classes! Your ticket to adventure with new classes starting each week beginning June 4.

Join us for some Kowboy Kool-Aid during the tenth annual Kool-Aid Days, August 10, 11 & 12! Free museum admission on Sunday, August 12 and all the Kool-Aid you can drink!

Hours at the Hastings Museum are Monday through Wednesday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.; Thursday through Saturday, 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. and Sunday 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

For more information on these and all events at the Hastings Museum, email us or call 1-800-508-4629.