Laser Light Nights are back at the DOME featuring an all new experience!
Sit back, relax and rock out with our new laser light system from "the worldwide leader in planetarium laser light shows," Laser Fantasy! Experience the full 3D excitement! The system features a graphics laser projector with special effects, a haze machine & a new beam projector, plus a fresh playlist of 20+ performances, from Beyoncé to The Beatles! Pick up show-enhancing spectrum glasses and refreshments at concessions!
SHOW SCHEDULE
July 18
6:00 – Laser K Pop Demon Hunters (all music from the hit movie!)
7:15 – Laser N’Sync with Britney (new show!)
8:30 – Laser ABBA
August 15
6:00 – Laser Elton John
7:15 – Laser Journey
8:30 – Laser Michael Jackson
September 26
6:00 – That 80’s Laser Show
7:15 – Laser Aerosmith
8:30 – Laser Led Zeppelin Whole Lotta Led
$5 Visionary Society Members | $7 Members | $10 Public
Buy tickets online now
click here.
Tickets & more info also available at the Museum or by phone at 309.686.7000.
(Note: These shows contain lyrics to popular songs and some may not be suitable for all ages.)
Wednesday, July 22, 2026 | Doors open at 5:30 p.m., Conversation begins at 6 p.m.
Join us for a special conversation in the Giant Screen Theater with antiquarian bookseller and professor of art and history Jonah Rosenberg.
Rosenberg, the Head of Rare Books at Arader Galleries has a dozen years' experience and holds an A.B. in Classics from Brown and a D.Phil in Classical Archeaology from Oxford. Now, he'll be visiting Peoria to discuss some of the historical maps in current exhibition The Promise of Liberty .
These maps include the 1755 Mitchell Map, the most comprehensive map of eastern North America made during the colonial era. Used as a primary map source during negotiations for the 1783 Treaty of Paris for defining the boundaries of the newly independent United States of America, the map remained important for resolving border disputes between the United States and Canada as recently as the 1980's.
Tickets:
Non-member adult: $10 | Non-member child: $8
Members: $5
Get tickets HERE
The Promise of Liberty is sponsored by the Gilmore Foundation, Ashley and Josh Bellamy, McKinnon Family Foundation, America 250 Donors, Visionary Society, Friends of History
Pub Night Under the Stars: The Summer Milky Way
Friday, August 7
7:00 - 9:00 p.m.
The summer Milky Way holds many hidden treasures – star-forming clouds, star clusters, exploding stars. Join Planetarium Educator Nick Rae as we explore these beautiful gems using humanity’s best telescopes, and in the process learn about the cycles of star birth and star death. Everything we see will relate back to the view we have from our own location here in the galaxy.
Your evening will also include a tour of the night sky, the latest images from the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescope, and a flight to the edge of space and back.
Each guest receives an individual snack box featuring, cheese, pretzels, fruit, nuts & more; up to three servings of beer, seltzer or soda; and an entertaining evening under the stars.
Doors open at 6:50 PM
The program will be in two parts, allowing time to socialize and get more refreshments between shows.
$45 Members | $55 Others
Tickets can be purchased HERE.
Ages 21+
Additional questions? Contact Renae Kerrigan at rkerrigan@peoriariverfrontmuseum.org or 309.863.3030.
All supplies provided for programs unless otherwise noted. All paid programs require a minimum number of participants to run or will be canceled two business days prior to the start date. Pre-registration required.
PLANET PASSPORT SERIES
Join our planet passport series! Each month, come to the planetarium for a show focused on one planet or place in space. Shows will be included in museum admission, and free for museum members. Non-Members can purchase admission to the museum or a planetarium show ticket to attend. These shows are great for all ages.
New for 2026: Participants should sign up for a Peoria Riverfront Museum Achievement Passport.
For each planet show you attend, you will earn a stamp in your passport and 25 points. Every three stamps you earn, you will gain a little extra prize! At the end of the year, we will host a telescope observing night to celebrate all we have learned. Everyone who participated in the planet passport program will be invited.
Shows will be on the second Thursday (5:30 PM) and second Saturday (10:30 AM) of each month. Each show will be about 45 minutes in length.
Planet Passport Series - Cycle Three!
March 12 (5:30 PM) and 14 (10:30 AM) – Mercury
April 9 (5:30 PM) and 11 (10:30 AM) – Venus
May 9 (10:30 AM) and 14 (5:30 PM) – Earth and Moon
June 11 (5:30 PM) and 13 (10:30 AM) – Mars
July 9 (5:30 PM) and 11 (10:30 AM) – Ceres and the Asteroid Belt
August 8 (10:30 AM) and 13 (5:30 PM) – Jupiter
September 10 (5:30 PM) and 12 (10:30 AM) – Saturn
October 8 (5:30 PM) and 10 (10:30 AM) – Uranus
November 12 (5:30 PM) and 14 (10:30 AM) – Neptune
December 10 (5:30 PM) 12 (10:30 AM) – Pluto and Kuiper Belt
Saturday, August 8, 2026 - Sunday, August 9, 2026
Acclaimed author and historian A'Lelia Bundles visits to illuminate the dazzling A’Lelia Walker objects featured in current exhibition Joyful Resistance.
Items on display uplift the story of the Dark Tower as a vital gathering place in American cultural history, as well as showing the opulence that saturated fashion and objects of the time.
Through vivid storytelling, Bundles brings to life her great-grandmother A'Lelia Walker, the daughter of famed haircare mogul Madame C.J. Walker, and the extraordinary community of artists, writers, and thinkers who shaped the Harlem Renaissance within A'Lelia Walker's legendary salon: the Dark Tower. The evening also includes a book talk and signing of Bundles’ recent release, Joy Goddess: A'Lelia Walker and the Harlem Renaissance, offering deeper insight into a woman whose legacy of joy and resistance continues to inspire. Books will be available for purchase in the Museum Store.
Saturday, August 8, 2026
Member exclusive tour of Joyful Resistance with A'Lelia Bundles | 1 p.m. | Reserve your place HERE
Join us for a member-exclusive tour of current exhibition Joyful Resistance with A'Lelia Bundles. Items from Bundles' great-grandmother, A'Lelia Walker, are currently on display in the exhibition.
Joy Goddess: A'Lelia Walker and the Harlem Renaissance Book Conversation and Signing | 2:30 p.m. | Get your ticket HERE
Join us for a special presentation on A'Lelia Walker's new book, detailing the life and legacy of her great-grandmother and namesake, A'Lelia Walker. Walker was a keystone of the Harlem Renaissance and at the center of the Black artistry, creativity, community and culture of the time. Her legendary salon, the Dark Tower, hosted such artistic greats as Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, W.E.B. Du Bois and more, serving as the place from which some of the greatest poems, novels, songs and artworks emerged.
Sunday, August 9, 2026
Museum Conversation: A'Lelia Bundles | 1 p.m. | Reserve your place HERE
Join A'Lelia Bundles and director of community engagement and assistant curator for the Peoria Riverfront Museum Everley Davis for a Museum Conversation in the Giant Screen Theater. This event is FREE thanks to the generous support of Art Bridges, as part of the museum's Access for All free day.
Tour of Joyful Resistance | 2:30 p.m.
Join A'Lelia Bundles and Everley Davis in Joyful Resistance to talk about some of the objects on display from A'Lelia Walker, Bundles' great-grandmother and the subject of Bundles' latest book.
Joyful Resistance sponsored by Art Bridges Foundation, Ron and Carrie Givens and Family, Darlene Violet, Sharlyn Munns, America 250 supporters, Visionary Society, Illinois Arts Council, Friends of Bronzeville to Harlem
Tuesday, August 11, 2026 | Doors open at 5:30 p.m., Discussion at 6 p.m., Reception and Book Signing at 7 p.m.
Peoria, Illinois has a long history of producing incredible entertainers, but perhaps none so famous as comedian and cinematic legend Richard Pryor. Now, celebrating his legacy, the Peoria Riverfront Museum is honored to welcome his daughter, Dr. Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor for a conversation on her father, her new book, and her own lived experience as a Black Jewish woman in academia.
In this visit, Dr. Pryor will be signing and discussing her new book: Something We Said: Richard Pryor, a Notorious Word, and Me. Copies will be available for purchase in the museum store or available as part of your ticket purchase.
Dr. Pryor will also be sharing further in a Museum Conversation moderated by Strictly Hip-Hop's Marc Supreme. She will sit down to discuss not only her father's work and enduring legacy, as well as his history in Peoria, but also her own work. Currently a professor of history at Smith College, Dr. Pryor teaches courses on race and slavery, and in addition to her newest work, is the award-winning author of the article "The Etymology of [N-Word]: Resistance, Language and the Politics of Freedom in the Antebellum North," as well as the 2016 book Colored Travelers: Mobility and the Fight for Citizenship Before the Civil War.
Tickets
Non Member Adult (No Book): $10 | Member Adult (No Book): $5
Non-Member Adult (With Book): $35 | Member Adult (With Book): $27
Youth (No Book): $5 | Member Youth attend free of charge
Get tickets HERE
Joyful Resistance sponsored by Art Bridges Foundation, Ron and Carrie Givens and Family, Darlene Violet, Sharlyn Munns, America 250 supporters, Visionary Society, Illinois Arts Council, Friends of Bronzeville to Harlem
A MUSEUM+ Program
Wednesday, August 12, 2026 | 7 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
Celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence at the Peoria Riverfront Museum! The Peoria Pops take the stage on the Sun Plaza for an evening of patriotic tunes celebrating America 250 in conjunction with standout exhibition The Promise of Liberty.
This full symphony orchestra will be playing true-blue American music against the beautiful riverfront setting.
See a 1776 broadside of the Declaration of Independence, the same that our ancestors would have seen in the earliest days of our nation on exhibition in The Promise of Liberty.
America 250The Peoria Riverfront Museum is celebrating the 250th anniversary of our nation in 2026. Join us all year long for exhibitions on American art, science, history and achievement, including The Promise of Liberty, an exhibition guest curated by documentarian Ken Burns. Featuring a 1776 copy of the Declaration of Independence, a copy of the Emancipation Proclamation signed by Abraham Lincoln, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech and more, this exhibition will be the largest collection of some of the most important documents in American history on display during America 250.
Sponsored by Linda Beth and Ed Sutkowski, America 250 donors, Visionary Society, Friends of Performance
Laser Light Nights are back at the DOME featuring an all new experience!
Sit back, relax and rock out with our new laser light system from "the worldwide leader in planetarium laser light shows," Laser Fantasy! Experience the full 3D excitement! The system features a graphics laser projector with special effects, a haze machine & a new beam projector, plus a fresh playlist of 20+ performances, from Beyoncé to The Beatles! Pick up show-enhancing spectrum glasses and refreshments at concessions!
SHOW SCHEDULE
$5 Visionary Society Members | $7 Members | $10 Public
Buy tickets online now
click here.
Tickets & more info also available at the Museum or by phone at 309.686.7000.
(Note: These shows contain lyrics to popular songs and some may not be suitable for all ages.)
PLANET PASSPORT SERIES
Join our planet passport series! Each month, come to the planetarium for a show focused on one planet or place in space. Shows will be included in museum admission, and free for museum members. Non-Members can purchase admission to the museum or a planetarium show ticket to attend. These shows are great for all ages.
New for 2026: Participants should sign up for a Peoria Riverfront Museum Achievement Passport.
For each planet show you attend, you will earn a stamp in your passport and 25 points. Every three stamps you earn, you will gain a little extra prize! At the end of the year, we will host a telescope observing night to celebrate all we have learned. Everyone who participated in the planet passport program will be invited.
Shows will be on the second Thursday (5:30 PM) and second Saturday (10:30 AM) of each month. Each show will be about 45 minutes in length.
Planet Passport Series - Cycle Three!
March 12 (5:30 PM) and 14 (10:30 AM) – Mercury
April 9 (5:30 PM) and 11 (10:30 AM) – Venus
May 9 (10:30 AM) and 14 (5:30 PM) – Earth and Moon
June 11 (5:30 PM) and 13 (10:30 AM) – Mars
July 9 (5:30 PM) and 11 (10:30 AM) – Ceres and the Asteroid Belt
August 8 (10:30 AM) and 13 (5:30 PM) – Jupiter
September 10 (5:30 PM) and 12 (10:30 AM) – Saturn
October 8 (5:30 PM) and 10 (10:30 AM) – Uranus
November 12 (5:30 PM) and 14 (10:30 AM) – Neptune
December 10 (5:30 PM) 12 (10:30 AM) – Pluto and Kuiper Belt
Sit back, relax and rock out with our new laser light system from "the worldwide leader in planetarium laser light shows," Laser Fantasy! Experience the full 3D excitement! The system features a graphics laser projector with special effects, a haze machine & a new beam projector, plus a fresh playlist of 20+ performances, from Beyoncé to The Beatles! Pick up show-enhancing spectrum glasses and refreshments at concessions!
SHOW SCHEDULE
September 26
6:00 – That 80’s Laser Show
7:15 – Laser Aerosmith
8:30 – Laser Led Zeppelin Whole Lotta Led
$5 Visionary Society Members | $7 Members | $10 Public
Buy tickets online now - Click on the date to purchase tickets.
Tickets & more info also available at the Museum or by phone at 309.686.7000.
(Note: These shows contain lyrics to popular songs and some may not be suitable for all ages.)
