Glenbow Museum strikes right chord with free promo as hundreds pile in

It's called "Free First Thursday Nights" and it's been a goldmine for the Glenbow Museum.

The first Thursday of each month the museum throws its doors open between 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. at no cost.

• Glenbow Museum to exhibit 'epic' Calgary painting lost for more than 20 years

By 6:30 p.m. Thursday, more than 1,000 visitors had cashed in on the offer.

Toni Hart brought her daughter who just moved back to Calgary from the east.

"I love the Glenbow Museum and our daughter just moved here from Toronto and she has joined us, we just had a bite to eat and I wanted her to see the museum," Hart explained.

She conceded that the price is right.

"I think it is a great idea, I love to see all of the people here."

Her daughter Colleen Hart loved her first visit to the iconic downtown attraction.

"My mom has raved about it and I have my little map and we are going to look at the feature exhibits," Colleen said.

"I think the 'free' is fantastic, it just makes a lot more people want to come out and then probably come back another time to pay."

Standard admission is $16 for adults, $11 for students and seniors and $10 for youth between seven and 17. There are family rates and it's always free for children six and under and museum members.

Those numbers weren't of concern to visitor Lindsay Corbet.

"I am actually here to meet a date, and it's free," Corbet told CBC News.

"We are both wanting to save money [but] I am the cheapie. I am here to see the paintings as well. I have been coming here since I was a baby and everything is almost still the same," she said.

"So it is nice to see some things from your childhood but new things at the same time."

• Calgary's history of fancy parties shatters Cowtown stereotype