“preserving the cultural heritage of SPAM”
As one of America's weirdest food museums, the SPAM museum also has another claim to fame: It's one of the most offbeat places you can get married in America! That's right, on April 25th, 2017, Mark Benson (who legally changed his name to Mark "I Love SPAM" Benson) married his love, Ann Mousley at the SPAM Museum. The couple traveled all the way from Liverpool, UK to live out their dream wedding. Their vows were said surrounded by historic artifacts commemorating the canned meat sensation. Guests dined on SPAM Musubi, and wished the couple well as they jet off to Hawaii to enjoy their honeymoon at the SPAM JAM festival in Waikiki. The Spam Museum is an admission-free museum in Austin, Minnesota dedicated to SPAM® brand, a line of precooked meat products made by Hormel Foods Corporation. The museum tells the history of the Hormel Foods, the origin of SPAM® products, and its place in world culture. The newly built, 14,000 square foot museum and comprises nine galleries. These include Can Central, 1891 & Beyond History, World Market, Serving Our Troops Military, SPAM® 101, SPAM® Today, Hormel Foods Today and Kids Can Play. Many of the exhibits include games, interactive videos, and hands-on activities. The gift shop offers hundreds of SPAM® branded items and gifts. Volunteer guides - known as SPAMbassadors - offer visitors small bits of SPAM® product on a toothpick or pretzel stick, commonly known as SPAMples. Hours: April-October Monday-Saturday: 10am-6pm Sunday: Noon-5pm First Thursday of every month: 10am-8pm November-March: Monday: Closed Tuesday-Sunday: Noon-5pm CLOSED: New Year's Day, Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day
Went there in July 2013 on a cross country trip. Was a fun stop off and my girlfriend loves Spam. They have TONS of merchandise at their store which was cool, it's typically way over priced though. We didn't care because we will never be there again so we got some shirts and other things. You can also get Spam burgers out front which was a nice surprise. We ate lunch right there.
I've been waiting a few years for the SPAM Museum to reopen & let me tell you, it was worth the wait! This is a wonderful (free) attraction perfect for the whole family. Even if you're not an avid lover of SPAM there's lots of interactive exhibits, fun informational pieces, and, of course, SPAM for you to take home with you.
Fun fact: Almost 17 million cans of SPAM could fit into the new museum’s space, which opened in late April 2016.
Get here fast, they are closing this museum September 28th 2014. Nice free museum to break up a long drive with pleasant employees and informative exhibits.
A museum, devoted to an American institution, you shouldn't miss. It's free, very well put-together, and informative. Inside you'll find a movie theater, a full-fledged trivia game, an abundance of exhibits and historical items, and the biggest Spam gift store you'll ever see.
Fun fact: Hormel has literally nothing to do with the junk email you receive. Don't blame them, it's unfair.
Employees are overly enthusiastic but if you are in the area worth the stop. Freaky/fascinating how popular spam is.
You can't complain about the price, it's free! It's a pretty nice pit stop, but honestly, I'm not much of a SPAM fan...just wanted a break from the road. If you love SPAM or want any sort of SPAM related merchandise, stop off. Otherwise, just keep on drivin'.
Our family of six loved this, museum is really well designed, spent an hour and we were trying to rush through!
Fun stop! Free museum that was interactive and totally enjoyable. We were in a hurry and went through the whole thing in about 30-45 minutes. Great gift shop.
Good musuem to stop at. best of all it is free
Nice stop to stretch the legs. they sure love their spam in Austin
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SPAM® Museum
Hours
- Sun, Tue - Sat: 12:00 pm - 5:00 pm
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Wheelchair Accessible
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Credit Cards Accepted
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Outdoor Seating
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