The 40th U.S. president’s centennial birthday is expected to draw more than the usual 400,000 annual visitors to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley, prompting a possible uptick in business and tourism in the surrounding area.
The Reagan Library and Museum — a museum, conference center and Reagan’s final resting place — saw a whopping increase in visitors after the former president’s death in 2004. Now, the buzz surrounds what would have been Reagan’s 100th birthday on Feb. 6, 2011, and promises to cause a similar spike in tourists.
The museum will unveil a $15 million renovation project the day before Reagan’s birthday. “It’s his 100th birthday and we tend to get excited around people’s birthdays,” said Ron Bauer, a media spokesman for The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation.
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