Children's Museum tickets go fast as families look to escape heat

PORTSMOUTH, Va. - Families looking to walk into the Children's Museum of Virginia without tickets on Sunday may have been out of luck.

"We’re sold out for the day actually," said Fannese Britton, the Museum Services Specialist, shortly after the doors opened at 9 a.m.

Britton says the summer season is always busier for the museum — with as many as 1,000 visitors per day, but the extreme heat stalled over the region was expected to push even more people inside.

"It’s really hot today, so it’s the perfect place to be," Keilah Kerstein, a mother from Norfolk, told News 3 on Sunday.

It comes at a time when the Portsmouth museum is welcoming new exhibits.

"Body Works," an exhibit created in partnership with Sentara that teaches kids about the human body, opened earlier this month. So did a traveling exhibit called "Shaun the Sheep."

Britton says a city program called Seize the Summer is helping museum staffing levels match the number of people coming in.

“We had an influx of youth high schoolers that have come in and they’ll be with us for the summer through August," she told News 3.

The Children's Museum of Virginia recommends that any families planning to visit purchase tickets ahead of time to ensure there's room. The museum is open Wednesday through Sunday.