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In true Philadelphia fashion, organizations such as the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University and Philadelphia Parks & Recreation have jumped on the beer
garden bandwagon. These two organizations have not only integrated alcohol into their free or pay-what-you-wish family friendly public programs and expanded their audience reach, they have also received local and national recognition for their efforts.
In both 2018 and 2019 The Academy of Natural Science’s program “Dinos After Dark” and the Philadelphia Parks & Recreation program “Parks on Tap” received the LOVE Award for the Best Place to Drink With Your Kids from Philadelphia Family Magazine. Not only do these programs drive attendance and revenue to their respective sites, they have also established parent-approved brand recognition with positive reviews on websites such as uwishunu.com, Mommy Poppins and Philadelphia Family Fun Guide, all of which are Philadelphia “authorities” within the family engagement sphere.
Furthermore, in 2018 the Philadelphia Zoo debuted their new beer garden called “The Watering Hole” and established a partnership with Victory Brewing Company. Currently it is open seven days a week during Zoo hours.
The question is: Should other family friendly museums in Philadelphia follow their lead and serve alcoholic beverages to their visitors during family programs? This research would be of interest to notable institutions such as the Please Touch Museum, The Franklin Institute and the Independence Seaport Museum, among others.
This market research is critical since the concept of a museum beer garden merges two previously separate arenas into one. Furthermore, since museum beer gardens are still fairly uncommon, the trends on this topic have not been well-documented and there’s no public data to make an informed programmatic decision. Therefore, this research is designed to understand if Philadelphia parents would be interested in attending a family friendly beer garden in a museum or not.