Smokey Bear Museum and Gift Shop
The Museum is located at 102 Smokey Bear Blvd., on the north side of State Highway 380, just west of the intersection with State Highway 48, and just east of the Smokey Bear Historical Park.
Gift Shop Hours of Operation:
Daily – 10:00am to 4:30pm
Closed – Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years day.
575-354-2298
Built entirely by local volunteers, Smokey's Museum opened in 1961, having been dedicated in 1958, the rustic one room building bursts with Smokey memorabilia, photos and posters chronicling his life history. Engaging drawings by Rudy Wendelin and Harold Walter's enlarged photos catch visitors' eyes first. In one of Walter's photos, the cub Smokey looks up at the first poster of Smokey Bear. In another, the tiny Smokey crawls on Judy Bell's knee.
Smokey's extraordinarily powerful marketing impact offer a nice touch of nostalgia. Milton Bradley's Smokey Bear game, Smokey canteens, books, hats, dolls, watches, pens, scarves, rulers, and Viewmaster reels are piled beside Smokey mugs, patches, ranger station banks, shovels, Junior Forest Ranger badges, magic slates, ashtrays, coins, stamps, comics and sweatshirts.
Six thick scrapbooks trumpet Smokey's achievements as if he were a high school athlete. Newspaper clippings, magazine articles and fan letters bring Smokey's fairy tale story to life.
