The New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum in Las Cruces truly has a national and international audience.

The Museum played host to visitors from all 50 states and from 11 foreign countries over a one-year period, from March 2016 through February 2017. The data was collected from the Museum’s lobby registry where visitors may sign if they want. The registry is just a small sampling of the overall number of visitors that come through the Museum.

Following New Mexico, most of the visitors were from Texas, California, Arizona, Colorado, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Washington, in that order. The foreign countries represented were Mexico, Canada, Ecuador, The Netherlands, France, Japan, Scotland, Germany, Australia, Portugal and Denmark.

Through regular Museum admission and the events hosted by Dickerson’s Catering, about 85,000 people passed through the Museum last year. About half of the Museum’s regular attendance is made up of children.

The Museum, a division of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs, is on 47 acres on the southeastern edge of Las Cruces, and features animals, demonstrations, interactive areas for children, indoor and outdoor exhibits, a greenhouse, barns, corrals and more.

The Museum will celebrate the 20th anniversary of its opening in 2018.

Last year, the Museum received accreditation from the American Alliance of Museums, the highest national honor awarded museums. The accreditors called the Museum’s livestock program “a national model” for other museums with animals.

May 7-13 is National Tourism Week. For more information, call (575) 522-4100.