Cool Summer Nights

Cool Summer Nights
Open till 10:00 p.m. on Saturdays
June 7 - August 30, 2025

The Desert Museum is lovely during the day, but it’s even cooler after dark! Join us every Saturday night throughout the summer to beat the heat while learning something neat! The desert comes alive at night as nocturnal animals awake. Bats perform aerial acrobatics in pursuit of dinner, beavers splash around in their pond, and scorpions glow green under black light. Bring your flashlight and explore, grab a local beer and wander, experience a live animal encounter, scamper in Packrat Playhouse, feel the touch of a stingray, or participate in special nightly activities. See the schedule below for weekly themes.

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Exhibit Closing Times

Some exhibits close early for safety reasons or so that the animals can get some shut eye! The Mixed Aviary will close at 7:00 p.m. Jun-Jul and 6:30 p.m. Aug, and the Desert Loop Trail will close at 7:30 p.m. Jun-Jul and 6:30 p.m. Aug.

Shopping and Dining Closing Times

The Mountain House Gift Shop (near the entrance) is open until 10:00 p.m.
The Ironwood Gift Shop (near the restaurant complex) is open until 10:00 p.m.

The Ocotillo Café is open from 5:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m.
The Ironwood Terraces Restaurant is open throughout the day until 9:00 p.m.
Phoebé’s Coffee Bar is open throughout the day until 10:00 p.m.

A few menu items from the Ocotillo Café


(gf) Birria — Slow cooked beef on corn tortillas with pepperjack cheese, served with cilantro, onion, radish and consume for dipping	Southwest Bbq Burger — prime rib steak burger, pineapple braised pork, pepperjack cheese, red onion, and house made chipotle Dr. Pepper barbeque sauce, served on grilled bun with roasted jalapeno	Chef’s Sonoran Dawg — All beef frank wrapped with applewood smoked bacon, topped with pinto beans, blended cheese, fresh salsa fresca, mustard, and charred jalapeno aioli on a fresh house baked bolillo roll	(gf) Sopes — Lightly fried masa shells, with refried beans, shredded chicken, cotija cheese, cilantro, radish, and topped with salsa verde

PRO TIP

Please remember: rattlesnakes are more active as it gets dark. They are important members of our natural environment but if you spot one, please alert any volunteer or staff member and maintain your distance. Make sure to be alert of where you place your hands & feet. Thank you!

Weekly Themes & Activity Schedule

Activity schedules subject to additions and changes — check back often for the latest updates!

(See previous Saturday schedules)

June 14 — Astronomy Night

Tucson is arguably the best city for stargazing in the United States. View the wonders of the night skies at one of our telescope stations and enjoy space-themed activities! Bring your flashlight and explore, grab a local beer and wander, experience a live animal encounter, scamper in Packrat Playhouse, feel the touch of a stingray, and learn more about star maps from our Docents.

Tonight’s Activities

Signature Drink — Lost in Space Martini
6:00 - 10:00 p.m. Stargazing: Discover the celestial skies through telescopes throughout grounds. With experts on-hand, learn about what you're viewing and ask all your burning questions!
7:00 - 7:45 p.m. Presentation by Sadie Carmen of Noir Lab
8:00 - 8:45 p.m. Presentation by Ruskin Hartley of DarkSky International
Throughout the Night: Look for Museum Docents around the grounds interpreting celestial desert skies, fluorescent minerals, bats, kissing bugs, scorpions, rattlesnakes, and more!
6:00 - 9:30 p.m. Stingray Touch Exhibit: Admission: $2 Members / $3 Non-Members
Visitors are able to create their own moments with these captivating creatures at the Stingray Touch experience. The pool features cow nose stingrays that guests can interact with. Be touched by a ray!
6:00 - 10:00 p.m. Packrat Playhouse: This indoor play space allows children to discover the desert through the eyes of a packrat! Packrat Playhouse may reach capacity. 30-minute reserved play times are available at the Packrat Playhouse entrance.
5:00 - 9:00 p.m. Art Exhibits: Make sure to check out 'Kindred Spirits' in the Ironwood Gallery and 'Desert Textures' in the Baldwin Education Building!

June 21 — Desert Dwellers

The desert comes alive at night as nocturnal animals awake. Bats perform aerial acrobatics in pursuit of dinner, beavers splash around in their pond, and scorpions glow green under black light. Bring your flashlight and explore, grab a local beer and wander, experience a live animal encounter, scamper in Packrat Playhouse, feel the touch of a stingray, or participate in special nightly activities. First 200 guests receive a FREE blacklight flashlight!

Tonight’s Activities

Signature Drink — Scorpion
6:30 & 7:30 p.m. Sonoran Animal Spotlight: Enjoy an educational presentation by the staff of the Interpretive Animal Collection in the air-conditioned Warden Oasis Theater.
Throughout the Night: Look for Museum Docents around the grounds interpreting live animals, celestial desert skies, fluorescent minerals, bats, kissing bugs, scorpions, rattlesnakes, and more!
6:00 - 9:30 p.m. Stingray Touch Exhibit: Admission: $2 Members / $3 Non-Members
Visitors are able to create their own moments with these captivating creatures at the Stingray Touch experience. The pool features cow nose stingrays that guests can interact with. Be touched by a ray!
6:00 - 10:00 p.m. Packrat Playhouse: This indoor play space allows children to discover the desert through the eyes of a packrat! Packrat Playhouse may reach capacity. 30-minute reserved play times are available at the Packrat Playhouse entrance.
5:00 - 9:00 p.m. Art Exhibits: Make sure to check out 'Kindred Spirits' in the Ironwood Gallery and 'Desert Textures' in the Baldwin Education Building!

June 28 — All About Art

Did you know the Desert Museum has its own Art Institute? Explore the world of the arts with live painters throughout grounds, a scavenger hunt, and coloring stations. Bring your flashlight and explore, scamper in Packrat Playhouse, feel the touch of a stingray, or participate in special nightly activities.

Tonight’s Activities

Signature Drink — The Beyond (Inspired by Georgia O'Keeffe)
6:00 - 9:00 p.m. Coloring Station Tent: Come and color outside the Gallery!
6:00 - 8:00 p.m. Live Painters: Plein Aire Painters of Tucson will be creating their masterpieces throughout the grounds.
6:00 - 9:00 p.m. Art Scavenger Hunt
6:00 - 9:00 p.m. 3D Gila Monster Coloring
Throughout the Night: Look for Museum Docents around the grounds interpreting special dinosuar kits, live animals, celestial desert skies, fluorescent minerals, bats, kissing bugs, scorpions, rattlesnakes, and more!
6:00 - 9:30 p.m. Stingray Touch Exhibit: Summertime isn’t complete without a trip to the pool! Dip your hands in the water and experience the touch of a stingray. $3.00/person, $2.00/Museum members.
6:00 - 9:30 p.m. Packrat Playhouse: This indoor play space allows children to discover the desert through the eyes of a packrat! Packrat Playhouse may reach capacity. 30-minute reserved play times are available at the Packrat Playhouse entrance.
6:00 - 9:30 p.m. Art Exhibits: Make sure to check out 'Kindred Spirits' in the Ironwood Gallery and 'Desert Textures' in the Baldwin Education Building!

July 5 — The Magic of Monsoons

Incredible lightning storms and the intoxicating aroma of creosote after the first rain are two of our favorite things about Monsoon! Meet experienced storm chasers and photographers and learn about this summertime season. Pima County Flood Control District will also be on hand with information on staying safe. Bring your flashlight and explore, grab a local beer and wander, experience a live animal encounter, scamper in Packrat Playhouse, and feel the touch of a stingray.

Tonight’s Activities

Signature Drink — Electric Lemonade
Throughout the Night: Look for Museum Docents around the grounds interpreting celestial desert skies, fluorescent minerals, bats, kissing bugs, scorpions, rattlesnakes, and more!
6:00 - 9:30 p.m. Stingray Touch Exhibit: Summertime isn’t complete without a trip to the pool! Dip your hands in the water and experience the touch of a stingray. $3.00/person, $2.00/Museum members.
6:00 - 10:00 p.m. Packrat Playhouse: This indoor play space allows children to discover the desert through the eyes of a packrat! Packrat Playhouse may reach capacity. 30-minute reserved play times are available at the Packrat Playhouse entrance.
5:00 - 9:00 p.m. Art Exhibits: Make sure to check out 'Kindred Spirits' in the Ironwood Gallery and 'Desert Textures' in the Baldwin Education Building!

July 12 — Radical Reptiles

All things reptilian are in the spotlight tonight! Learn about the Tortoise Adoption Program and meet some of the tortoises available for adoption. There will also be a mini Plant Sale featuring several desert-adapted plants. Bring your flashlight and explore, grab a local beer and wander, experience a live animal encounter, scamper in Packrat Playhouse, and feel the touch of a stingray.

Tonight’s Activities

Signature Drink — Snake in the Grass
Throughout the Night: Look for Museum Docents around the grounds interpreting celestial desert skies, fluorescent minerals, bats, kissing bugs, scorpions, rattlesnakes, and more!
6:00 - 9:30 p.m. Stingray Touch Exhibit: Summertime isn’t complete without a trip to the pool! Dip your hands in the water and experience the touch of a stingray. $3.00/person, $2.00/Museum members.
6:00 - 10:00 p.m. Packrat Playhouse: This indoor play space allows children to discover the desert through the eyes of a packrat! Packrat Playhouse may reach capacity. 30-minute reserved play times are available at the Packrat Playhouse entrance.
5:00 - 9:00 p.m. Art Exhibits: Make sure to check out 'Kindred Spirits' in the Ironwood Gallery and 'Desert Textures' in the Baldwin Education Building!

July 19 — Rocks and Stars

Tonight’s Activities

Signature Drink — Sandy Margarita
Throughout the Night: Look for Museum Docents around the grounds interpreting celestial desert skies, fluorescent minerals, bats, kissing bugs, scorpions, rattlesnakes, and more!
6:00 - 9:30 p.m. Stingray Touch Exhibit: Summertime isn’t complete without a trip to the pool! Dip your hands in the water and experience the touch of a stingray. $3.00/person, $2.00/Museum members.
6:00 - 10:00 p.m. Packrat Playhouse: This indoor play space allows children to discover the desert through the eyes of a packrat! Packrat Playhouse may reach capacity. 30-minute reserved play times are available at the Packrat Playhouse entrance.
5:00 - 9:00 p.m. Art Exhibits: Make sure to check out 'Camouflage' in the Ironwood Gallery and 'Desert Textures' in the Baldwin Education Building!

July 26 — Taste the Desert

Discover the Flavors and Traditions of the Sonoran Desert! Ever baked with mesquite flour or tasted pickled cholla buds? These unique desert ingredients aren’t just delicious—they can boost food security, improve health, and protect the environment. Join us for a flavorful celebration of the Sonoran Desert’s rich food heritage! Sample creative bites from local chefs featuring desert-adapted ingredients and learn about the history and future of desert foodways. Come explore how the resilient flavors of the desert can nourish both the body and the land.

Tonight’s Activities

Signature Drink — The Desert Bird

6:00 - 8:00 p.m. Desert-inspired dishes in the Ironwood Restaurant and Ocotillo Café

Try new dishes prepared by the Desert Museum’s new Chef.

6:30 - 8:00 p.m. Desert Food Tastings in Collaboration with Tucson City of Gastronomy

Explore dishes crafted by local chefs using local ingredients like mesquite, prickly pear, cholla buds, and tepary beans. Discover how the desert’s bounty can inspire delicious and resilient cuisine. Talk to chefs, learn what inspires them, and be inspired yourself! (Limited to one tasting sample per guest.)

6:30 - 7:30 p.m. The Sonoran Supermarket

Join us for a fun and family-friendly presentation where we’ll explore the amazing edible plants of the Sonoran Desert! Discover how desert plants like agave, prickly pear, and mesquite have nourished desert peoples for generations. Through engaging stories, hands-on demonstrations, and interactive Q&A, kids and adults alike will learn how these hardy plants survive in harsh desert conditions and why they’re so important for local ecosystems and food traditions. Come learn how the Sonoran Desert is nature’s own supermarket!

6:30 - 9:30 p.m. Pop-up Chili sale

6:30 - 9:30 p.m. Educational activities

Learn from our partners — Tucson Village Farm, Las Milpitas Community Farm and more!

8:00 - 9:00 p.m. Chile, Clove and Cardamom: A Gastronomic Journey Into the Fragrances and Flavors of Desert Cuisines — Presentation and Book Signing

Explore mouth-watering cuisines from the most vibrant and diverse culinary traditions of the hottest and driest places on earth—including the aromatic dishes and arid-adapted traditions from Central Asia, the Middle East, North Africa, and the deserts shared by the US and Mexico.

Chile, Clove, and Cardamom is a celebration of the fragrances and flavors of sun-drenched landscapes. Nabhan will discuss surprising patterns and principles among varied recipes of traditional desert cultures, bringing to life the places, dishes, and recipes that have been shaped by heat and drought and infused with bold flavors.

Gary Paul Nabhan is an award winning literary nature writer, conservation biologist and desert ethno-ecologist. He worked at the Desert Museum in the late 1970s and again as Associate Director for Research, Conservation and Collections in the 1990s. Nabhan is a Lebanese-American who splits his time between Patagonia AZ, coastal Sonora and New Pascua Yaqui lands assisting with hands-on training for ecological restoration, collaborative conservation and rural community development.

Throughout the Night

Look for Museum Docents around the grounds interpreting live animals, celestial desert skies, fluorescent minerals, bats, kissing bugs, scorpions, rattlesnakes, and more!

6:00 - 9:30 p.m. Stingray Touch Exhibit

Summertime isn’t complete without a trip to the pool! Dip your hands in the water and experience the touch of a stingray. $3.00/person, $2.00/Museum members.

6:00 - 10:00 p.m. Packrat Playhouse

This indoor play space allows children to discover the desert through the eyes of a packrat! Packrat Playhouse may reach capacity. 30-minute reserved play times are available at the Packrat Playhouse entrance.

5:00 - 9:00 p.m. Art Exhibits

Make sure to check out 'Camouflage' in the Ironwood Gallery and 'Desert Textures' in the Baldwin Education Building!

August 2 — Insectopia

Let’s celebrate incredible insects and amazing arthropods! The Sonoran Desert is a hot spot of insect diversity and this is your chance to meet them. Get a bugs-eye view of many of the million species of arthropods that make the Sonoran Desert their home. Bring your flashlight and explore, grab a local beer and wander, experience a live animal encounter, scamper in Packrat Playhouse, and feel the touch of a stingray.

Tonight’s Activities

Signature Drink — Blue Butterfly
Throughout the Night: Look for Museum Docents around the grounds interpreting celestial desert skies, fluorescent minerals, bats, kissing bugs, scorpions, rattlesnakes, and more!
6:00 - 9:30 p.m. Stingray Touch Exhibit: Summertime isn’t complete without a trip to the pool! Dip your hands in the water and experience the touch of a stingray. $3.00/person, $2.00/Museum members.
6:00 - 10:00 p.m. Packrat Playhouse: This indoor play space allows children to discover the desert through the eyes of a packrat! Packrat Playhouse may reach capacity. 30-minute reserved play times are available at the Packrat Playhouse entrance.
5:00 - 9:00 p.m. Art Exhibits: Make sure to check out 'Camouflage' in the Ironwood Gallery and 'Desert Textures' in the Baldwin Education Building!

August 9 — Singing with Saguaros

Howl and boogie with the Desert Museum Family Band! Join education specialists Michelle Miner and Kyleigh Sacco — plus special guests like Mr. Nature, Syndenn Sweet, and Eli Beren — in a desert style Singalong at the Warden Oasis Theater. Get your paws on our nature inspired music album! Bring your flashlight and explore, scamper in Packrat Playhouse, and feel the touch of a stingray.

Tonight’s Activities

Signature Drink — Saguaro Cooler
Throughout the Night: Look for Museum Docents around the grounds interpreting celestial desert skies, fluorescent minerals, bats, kissing bugs, scorpions, rattlesnakes, and more! Blacklights will be available to seek out those fluorescing scorpions!
6:00 - 9:30 p.m. Stingray Touch Exhibit: Summertime isn’t complete without a trip to the pool! Dip your hands in the water and experience the touch of a stingray. $3.00/person, $2.00/Museum members.
6:00 - 10:00 p.m. Packrat Playhouse: This indoor play space allows children to discover the desert through the eyes of a packrat! Packrat Playhouse may reach capacity. 30-minute reserved play times are available at the Packrat Playhouse entrance.
5:00 - 9:00 p.m. Art Exhibits: Make sure to check out 'Camouflage' in the Ironwood Gallery and 'Desert Textures' in the Baldwin Education Building!

August 16 — Bat Night

Are you feeling batty? Come celebrate the only flying mammals — bats! The evening will be filled with fun, educational activities, talks, and crafts designed to help you better appreciate these amazing aerial acrobats! Bring your flashlight and explore, grab a local beer and wander, experience a live animal encounter, scamper in Packrat Playhouse, and feel the touch of a stingray.

Tonight’s Activities

Signature Drink — Bat Bite
Throughout the Night: Look for Museum Docents around the grounds interpreting live animals, celestial desert skies, fluorescent minerals, bats, kissing bugs, scorpions, rattlesnakes, and more!
6:00 - 9:30 p.m. Stingray Touch Exhibit: Summertime isn’t complete without a trip to the pool! Dip your hands in the water and experience the touch of a stingray. $3.00/person, $2.00/Museum members.
6:00 - 10:00 p.m. Packrat Playhouse: This indoor play space allows children to discover the desert through the eyes of a packrat! Packrat Playhouse may reach capacity. 30-minute reserved play times are available at the Packrat Playhouse entrance.
5:00 - 9:00 p.m. Art Exhibits: Make sure to check out 'Camouflage' in the Ironwood Gallery and 'Desert Textures' in the Baldwin Education Building!

August 23 — Teacher Appreciation Night

See full details here.

August 30 — Desert Trails

Tonight’s Activities

Signature Drink — Desert Elixir
Throughout the Night: Look for Museum Docents around the grounds interpreting celestial desert skies, fluorescent minerals, bats, kissing bugs, scorpions, rattlesnakes, and more!
6:00 - 9:30 p.m. Stingray Touch Exhibit: Summertime isn’t complete without a trip to the pool! Dip your hands in the water and experience the touch of a stingray. $3.00/person, $2.00/Museum members.
6:00 - 10:00 p.m. Packrat Playhouse: This indoor play space allows children to discover the desert through the eyes of a packrat! Packrat Playhouse may reach capacity. 30-minute reserved play times are available at the Packrat Playhouse entrance.
5:00 - 9:00 p.m. Art Exhibits: Make sure to check out 'Camouflage' in the Ironwood Gallery and 'Where the Light Gets In' in the Baldwin Education Building!