I’ve only been to the Peoria Riverfront Museum once and that was after-hours for the Greg and Dan film, Asian Carpnado. There’s an exhibit going on now called, “Stuff! The Art Of Collecting,” that sounds really interesting, so today I thought we’d go check it out.

I got a 30 pack of Hamm’s beer to take to the museum today. Why in the world would I be taking Hamm’s beer to the museum? Well just keep on scrolling and you’ll find out!

Here we are at the Peoria Riverfront Museum. It’s an impressive building!

Let’s go on in and see what’s going on inside of here.

Wow, it’s a big lobby, there’s the ticket counter over there...

Behind the counter is none other than Katie Batton, the pretty museum store manager. And if you listen to WMBD, that last name probably sounds familiar and yes, she’s the daughter of MBIP pal and local radio broadcaster, Greg Batton!

Okay, let’s go see some stuff!

Stuff begins here.

The exhibit is in this room here, let’s go take a look around.

I thought I’d put up the different display statements underneath the stuff on display. This is a collection of Beanie Babies amassed from 1993 to 2000.

Insect collection, very cool!

Here's a huge Pez collection on display. There’s even more than this, if you want to see them all, you need to stop by.

Here’s a piece of art by local artist, Preston Jackson.

There’s more Preston Jackson art over here, three vintage car sculptures.

This wall has a collection of performance art posters from the Thomas G. Neumiller collection.

I really like this Johnny Cash poster.

This is a collection of love letters from a husband and wife. In the display statement the wife writes, “I have saved these letters from Harry in the hopes that they will preserve our wonderful memories, and help to tell the story of our love.” How cool would a reading of these letters at the museum be? (Hint, hint.)

Okay, this is what I’ve been looking for and the main reason I came today...

It’s Sasha the bowling bear that was painted on the outside wall of Bowl-Mor Lanes. Bowl-Mor Lanes was my hangout in high school and it sure brings back a lot of memories! Phil Luciano owns Sasha now and it’s on loan from his garage. Something’s missing though...

There we go, now it’s perfect! Very cool of the museum to let me put that 30 pack of Hamm’s beer there. This made my day.

My work here is done! (Sadly, the beer was only there for a few hours, due to liquor license laws and the fear of young children wandering the museum drunk on Hamm's beer, they had to put it on ice for when Phil comes to visit. But at least I got the photo and had my moment and we can drink the beer in Phil's garage when it's warmer outside.)

Let’s go get a souvenir from the museum store.

As you can see, Greg Batton has left his mark in here!

I love the umbrellas hanging down from the ceiling.

I got a Peoria Riverfront Museum shot glass and foil MBIP magnetic letters for the MBIP World Headquarters fridge.

There’s way more to see than what’s pictured here. You really should do yourself a favor and stop on by. The exhibit runs until May 25th of this year.

Peoria Riverfront Museum
222 SW Washington Street
Peoria
309-686-7000
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Dreams can come true, but some things never will,
As a matter of fact, those things are driving me crazy,
Those things are keeping me sane.

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