St. Joseph’s museum curators — guardians of our rich cultural heritage and colorful history — would like to see you today.

Any day is good, but today is especially suited for a visit to the National Military Heritage Museum, which hosts its 16th annual military model contest from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Likewise, the Pony Express Museum welcomes first-timers and return visitors today. In the adjacent Spratt Park, guest speaker Donnie Wright will tell true tales of American Indians on the frontier. Activities for children will be provided from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

At St. Joseph Museums (which includes the Black Archives and the Glore Psychiatric Museum), the “Treasures, Trash and Tunes” Fresh Air Flea Market will run from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The event will feature vendors, food, children’s activities and music from Missouri Western State University student performers.

Expect surprises at other area museums as well, including: the Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art, the Fire Museum, the Robidoux Row Museum, the Society of Memories Doll Museum, the Wyeth-Tootle Mansion and the Agency Ford Museum in Agency, Mo. Expect surprises, but no admission fees.

Nationally, this is the fifth Annual Museum Day and National Public Lands Day. With the encouragement of Smithsonian Magazine and the Smithsonian Museum, more than 1,200 museums, zoos, and arts and cultural attractions around the country will be waiving admission charges today. And for good reason.

America’s museums need visitors and supporters to keep the lights on and to advance their mission of making the arts and history accessible to all. They wisely calculate that it’s not too much to set aside one day a year to entice people to visit free-of-charge — knowing good and well that some will become hooked and return again and again, perhaps even becoming benefactors of the future.

Just as the museums need the public, we need these enriching, welcoming venues where the present meets the past, and where creativity finds an appreciative audience. It’s one thing to read and hear about events in history, or to look at pictures in a book. It’s quite another to experience these things first-hand at one of the region’s exceptional museums.