Hastings Museum is the rare small-city museum that punches absurdly above its weight. Founded in 1927, it’s the largest municipal museum between Chicago and Denver: three floors of natural history dioramas (the wildlife halls are a time capsule of great taxidermy), a full-dome planetarium, and a giant-screen theater — all under one roof, all cheap.
And then there’s the Kool-Aid exhibit. Edwin Perkins invented the drink mix here in 1927, and the museum owns that story completely: original packaging, vintage advertising, the whole sweet-toothed saga. It’s the pop-culture anchor that gets people in the door; the natural history is what keeps them for hours.
Open Tuesday through Sunday. Plan on two to four hours, and don’t skip the planetarium show if one’s running. For a museum of this size, the admission is a genuine bargain.