CHICAGO — More than 15 million visitors stopped by the city's museums, zoos and the Botanic Garden last year.
It was a banner year for museums and zoos, with attendance increasing 6 percent from the previous year, according to Museums in the Park. More than 1.4 million children and teens visited the facilities for field trips.
“It was an exciting year and we are delighted 15 million people experienced Chicagoland’s iconic cultural institutions,” said Gary Johnson, Museums in the Park president. “It is clear that in 2015, the local museums found a way into the hearts of Chicagoans and tourists alike.”
A partial breakdown:
• The Botanic Garden alone brought in more than 1 million people, with a spike in August as visitors rushed to see Spike and Alice, the corpse flowers.
• Lincoln Park Zoo had nearly 3.6 million visitors. Its ZooLights exhibit brought in more than 530,000 people.
• Nearly 1.5 million people visited the Museum of Science and Industry, which also saw more than 336,000 students coming in for field trips.
• The Adler Planetarium had 550,379 visitors, the first time it's had more than 500,000 people come by since 1993.
• More than 1.38 million visited the Field Museum.
• The National Museum of Mexican Art saw more than 10,000 people just on Nov. 1 for the "Day of the Dead in the City of Chicago."
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