By Erica Moser, news correspondent 

Ever heard of the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company? How about the Greenway Carousel? Boston is chock full of historically and culturally rich sites that many people don’t even know exist, or think are too expensive to pay a visit. But thanks to the Free Fun Fridays program, these sites just became much more accessible.

Through the program, five to eight museums and cultural venues will open their doors for free each Friday from June 27 to Aug. 29. It started when the trustees of the Highland Street Foundation were looking for a way to celebrate the Foundation’s 20th anniversary. Since then, it has developed fromjust a celebration toan ongoing promotion of cultural appreciation.

“The maintenants of the Foundation are access and opportunity,” Community Relations Manager Derrick Shallcross said. “The mission of this program is primarily to encourage people to come out and see the museums and cultural venues.”

He added that “it is really important to encourage learning throughout the summer” for children, and it’s a great way to promote the smaller cultural institutions as well as the larger ones.

The program started six years ago with 10 organizations that drew 60,000 people. This year, 67 venues across Massachusetts are involved and the Foundation expects more than 200,000 attendees.

The Highland Street Foundation, established in 1989 by David J. McGrath Jr., is giving out more than $650,000 in grants to those venues so they can each waive admission costs for a day.

The listings for last Friday included the Genealogical Society, along with the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum, Peabody Essex Museum, Worcester Historical Museum, Fruit Lands Museum, Cape Cod Children’s Museum and Pilgrim Hall Museum.

A colorful display highlighting the free admission stood outside the Genealogical Society, which usually charges $15.

“We were just walking down Newbury Street, and we saw the sign out front, and we just came in to see what I could find out about my dad,” Nick Roberts, who was visiting from Atlanta with his wife and daughter, said. “We wouldn’t have stopped here if it hadn’t been for this program.”

For Larry Smith, a Boston firefighter from Randolph, the excursions were more planned.

“The first week was Franklin Park,” Smithsaid. “The second week we went to Jacob’s [Pillow], out in Lee.” The third week he was at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum with his 10-year-old daughter and two of her friends.

Some of the museums have special activities and features on Free Fun Fridays.

Last week, the Peabody Essex Museum had the curators of exhibits available to speak with patrons, Shallcross said. The Museum of Fine Arts, featured July 18, “always go out of its way to have outdoor activities for kids on the lawn before people even go into the museum.”

The Highland Street Foundation is active in promoting the program, between sending out over 250,000 calendar card listings and advocating through social media.

“We have almost 11,000 Facebook friends,” Shallcross said, “many who have joined because they love to follow information on Free Fun Fridays.”

No matter how they find out about Free Fun Fridays, people can’t seem to get enough of them.

 The JFK Museum does a survey asking, “would you come back?” and a huge percentage say yes, said weekend docent Molly Joseph, wearing a “Kennedy for President” t-shirt.

The program is beneficial not only for the attendees but also for the museums.

“People end up spending money in the gift shop, cafeteria and elsewhere in the community,” Shallcross said.

Jeanne Duran, a Salem resident, visited the New England Genealogical Society to find out about her family history and expressed an interest in returning.

“I am a person who won’t join a membership,” she said, after leaving a consultation with a genealogist, during which she learned more about her grandparents’ Irish heritage. “I’ve been here for half an hour and I want to join, so if they want me to join, that’s saying something.”

See the full schedule of events for Free Fun Fridays here.

Photo courtesy David Paul Ohmer, Creative Commons