The month of May has presented the Sam Noble Museum with two reasons to celebrate:  May 1 marked the ten-year anniversary of the opening of the museum’s world-class facility and 111 years since the museum’s founding; and May 15 was the opening date of the special exhibitionChocolate from the Field Museum in Chicago.  From 7 to 10 p.m. on Friday, May 28, the museum will combine these two reasons to celebrate into one chocolate-covered party, and the public is invited.

Guests will be able to explore the exhibition Chocolate, as well as other museum galleries; enjoy live music and sample a variety of delicious chocolate taste sensations. The event is free and open to the public. All ages are welcome.

Chocolate takes visitors on a journey through history to get the complete story behind this tasty treat.  You’ll begin in the rainforest with the unique cacao tree whose seeds started it all. Visit the ancient Maya civilization of Central America and discover what chocolate meant nearly 1,500 years ago. Then travel forward in time to the Aztec civilization of 16^th-century Mexico, where cacao seeds were so valuable they were used as money. Discover chocolate’s introduction into the upper classes of European society and its transformation into a mass-produced world commodity. You’ll explore the plant, the products and the culture of chocolate through the lenses of science, history and popular culture. Chocolate and its traveling exhibition was created by The Field Museum, Chicago, and supported, in part, by the National Science Foundation.  Local media support was provided by Cox Media and The Oklahoman.

The Sam Noble Museum was founded by an act of the Oklahoma Territorial Legislature in 1899.  In May, 2000, the museum opened the doors of its current home, a 198,000 square-foot state-of-the art facility that houses more than 7 million objects and artifacts. Museum galleries feature exhibits that showcase more than 4 billion years of Oklahoma’s fascinating natural history.  The Sam Noble Museum serves as the official museum of natural history for the state, and the objects housed in this world-class facility belong to the people of Oklahoma.

The Sam Noble Museum is located at Timberdell Road and Chautauqua Avenue on the University of Oklahoma Norman campus.  Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday.  For additional information, call (405) 325-4712, or visit the museum’s Web site: www.snomnh.ou.edu.