Museum at the Gateway Arch Grand Opening & Fair St. Louis Recap

Since I've made it a habit to document Arch Park related ribbon cuttings, including North Gateway Park and Kiener Plaza, it was only right we make it to the Big One, the grand opening of the brand new Visitor Center and Museum at the Gateway Arch on Tuesday, July 3.

It was a bit warm, but skies were clear and there was a great turnout for the event, which was held right atop the park across the highway expansion. This was our first visit in that new area too.

Early crowds gather for the media event on the park over the highway.

Cardinal classic Ozzie Smith served as our emcee.

Mayor Lyda Krewson addresses the crowd.

Susan Saarinen, Arch architect Eero Saarinen's daughter, cuts the ribbon.

A second ribbon cutting was actually held on Friday, July 6 due to concerns about a lack of inclusion at the first event, as evidenced by the photo above, which I thought at the time seemed oddly missing even our emcee. Having to work the late part of that week, I was unfortunately unable to attend the second event, but glad to be able to watch most of it online.

Next up, everyone moved into the visitor center. This was a mass of humanity coming through both entrances, so it took a minute to funnel in and go through security, but even this was relatively smooth. (Plus I may have ended up in an episode of "Them Yo People!" chatting with Mister Gary, the King of Hospitality, during the wait...) Then we got our first looks at the new museum.

A view of the Arch from just before the entrance doors.
The exterior architecture was designed to complement the Arch's metallic gleam.

The entrance to the museum from the new entry side,
flanked by enormous screens with changing scenes.

A welcome display indicating the different sections of the museum.

The Jefferson's Vision section focused on early 1800s history.

A display in the Saarinen's Vision area
considering architectural and design concepts.

A reassembled stone wall from the Old Rock House,
which originally stood on the Arch Grounds site.

An amazing miniature of the riverfront from a time
when STL boasted the third busiest port in the nation.

Our new bison. He's not quite as magnificent as the original,
but he's still pretty cool.

(Bonus throwback photo from our final visit to the Museum of Westward Expansion in 2015.
Now I miss the fluffy old guy. *sniff*)

A view from the new museum out through the original point of entry.
This area retains much of the classic architecture, so it felt like stepping back into my childhood.

We took a break to eat at the new restaurant, which offers some pretty unique burgers plus healthy food options. Also, back outside were a few additional features and events.

The new splash pad area at the front of the museum
for kids of all ages to play on a hot day.

Local band Boogie Chyld performs at the North Gateway Park area celebration,
which included activities and food trucks.

Swag from the day, including a special collectible coin,
plus one of 1,000 cookies handed out at the North Gateway event.

Now, even though we spent some of our Tuesday with The Arch, we just had to go back Wednesday, July 4 for the big return home of Fair St. Louis. And what a great afternoon/evening it was, with a dog show, air show, symphony show and, of course, fantastic fireworks show. And this was just the first of a 3 day celebration which extended to the next weekend.

Dog show, complete with flying dogs.
One of her pooches also made an appearance on The Walking Dead.

Just a couple of the many great visuals during the afternoon air show.

The symphony takes us into the sunset.

A representative sample of the finale.

We really loved our Fair time at Forest Park, but somehow being back under The Arch just felt right. And having the museum open until 8 p.m. with easy access to air conditioned restrooms was not such a bad new feature either, since the visitor center area does not require going through security to enter.

As a closing note, I expressed some concern in an earlier post about the new parking situation, but the park across the highway makes a significant difference. We historically almost always parked on the Landing for Arch access. Now it's so easy to walk from downtown, it didn't feel awkward to park elsewhere, and we used the same garage for both events. Exit parameters were a bit snug due to security on the 4th, so we found ourselves in a brief bottleneck walking out with the post-fireworks crowd, but movement wasn't otherwise difficult.

Overall, a great couple of days for us at one of our favorite places. Go and visit soon!