Should Black Friday be renamed Museum Friday?

Museums are normally like Loverboy: they’re working for the weekend. Typical Friday attendance is meh, but Black Friday is a different ballgame.

“We typically see ‘weekend’ level attendance on this Friday, which is about double the attendance,” said the Philadelphia Art Museum’s Director of Visitor Operations, Jessica Sharpe, who will staff up the day after Thanksgiving.

Black Friday gets its name for its ability to put retailer’s accounting ledgers in the black. It’s also a boon day for all sorts of museums, which can expect double, triple, even five times the normal attendance.

The Michener Museum in Doylestown expects almost 200 percent more people than usual. The nearby Mercer Museum, an historic concrete castle filled with pre-industrial artifacts is expecting the blow that away.

It normally has about 200 visitors on a typical Friday.  This year it has an ace in the hole: Legos. It temporary exhibition of a Lego castle should bring five times the normal draw.

“Black Friday is always the busiest day here at the Mercer Museums. Particularly this year, since we are hosting the Lego Castle exhibit, “said vice president Molly Lowell. “We expect larger crowds than usual, something over 1,000 visitors.”

Legos, apparently, are the new black: a recently closed exhibition at the Franklin Institute of Lego sculpture brought record-breaking attendance.