Wawa Welcome America: Free Museum Day and First Friday
Join us in our museum for family-friendly programming as part of Wawa Welcome America’s 4th of July Free Museum Days!
It’s also First Friday, so we will be open late until 7pm with activities throughout the day and night. Join us for a day of fireworks fun!
Agenda
10am–7pm
- Experience our newest exhibition Flash! Bang! Boom! A History of Fireworks
- Partake in fireworks-themed activities and crafts, including creating a representation of the earliest fireworks, which used bamboo and black powder (explosives not included!)
- Explore special handling collection items, including real inert firework shells, exploded mortars, and historic instruments used in the science of pyrotechnics
- Share your favorite fireworks memories on our memory wall
3–7pm
- The Liberty Bell Matchcover Club will showcase their historical match collections advertising fireworks, explosive powders, and the chemical companies that produced them
5:15pm–6pm
- Get a behind the scenes look at our research library (space is limited)
Admission is free and reservations are not required.
Please contact us in advance for groups larger than 12. See our Group & School Tours page for more information.
More events
From Our Forefathers: Climate Crisis in Chemistry History
We’ve teamed up with artist Aislinn Pentecost-Farren and ArtPhilly’s What Now: 2026 festival to look at our museum through a new lens.
Stories of Science: Chemistry of Common Things
Join us in our museum EVERY SATURDAY for a family-friendly program that highlights strange and surprising stories from the history of science!
Fireworks Tour
Join our Gallery Guides for a drop-in tour of our special exhibition on the fascinating history and science of pyrotechnics.