USS Midway Museum's 20th Anniversary Series: Marketing & Events Departments

Welcome back to Midway's 20th-anniversary blog series, where we highlight a specific Museum department every month, looking back at the department’s early days and the developments it has experienced over the last 20 years.

In July, we highlight two of the most high-profile departments in the USS Midway Museum: Marketing and Events. For the past 20 years, the USS Midway Museum’s Marketing and Events Departments have worked side by side to craft memorable experiences that define the museum’s brand—a name that is recognized around the world today.

From the beginning, the focus of the Marketing Department has been centered around advertising and promotions, consumer media relations, social media content creation, community outreach, public and entertainment events, and travel industry sales activities. Marketing has helped to position Midway as a prime international tourist destination, a top attraction in San Diego, and a unique special events venue. Through Marketing’s local partnerships with the San Diego Tourism Authority and Visit California – the state’s marketing organization – Midway has been publicized to various foreign markets worldwide.

In comparison, Midway’s Events team has coordinated more than 700 unique events on board the museum every year, including over 300 private events and 400 military events, both big and small. Boasting two unique and expansive spaces, the flight deck and hangar deck, the museum can host up to 4,000 guests for large corporate events. The Events team continues to present Midway as not only one of the most unique special events venues in Southern California, and possibly anywhere in the United States, but as an important asset for San Diego’s military community through its hosting of hundreds of small but deeply personal ceremonies celebrating the promotions, commissions, and retirements of local Navy and Marine Corps servicemembers.

Looking back, the start of these two departments could be recognized by three key events. Before the museum even opened, Midway hosted its first marketing event – a public reconciliation ceremony between U.S. Navy pilots from World War II and their Japanese counterparts from Japan’s Zero Fighter Pilots Association in May 2004. The following month, the USS Midway Museum held its grand opening, which, as expected, was a massive media event. Later that summer, Midway’s first concert was a private function featuring the popular band Goo-Goo Dolls. This started a robust tradition of after-hours events for both public and private audiences.

Since then, the allure of Midway has lent itself to hosting many styles of public events, from the launching of a Red Bull racing plane from the flight deck in 2007 to being transformed into a college basketball arena for an NCAA game between San Diego State University and Syracuse University in 2012. Other assortments of public events coordinated by the Marketing team included the Purina Dog Challenge athletic dog competition in 2007, the EA Sports Madden NFL Skills Challenge in 2013, and the Top Gun: Maverick World Premiere in 2022 with actor Tom Cruise arriving in style by helicopter.

More recently, a few new traditions have been established, including the popular Haunted Halloween Hangar Bash and Jingle Jets lighting extravaganza.  Both events have created unique seasonal experiences for Midway’s San Diego community.

Over the past 20 years, Midway has been featured on a wide variety of television networks ranging from ESPN, Food Network, and Discovery to CBS, ABC, NBC, and Public Broadcasting. The hugely popular American Idol television show filmed two segments on board, and the adventure program Expedition Unknown recently recorded an episode that incorporated Midway’s TBM Avenger. Performing artists like Tim McGraw, Brad Paisley, and John Fogerty have also displayed their musical talent on board the ship.

Beyond this, Midway has ushered in remarkable historical events and occurrences that have garnered national attention, including milestone anniversaries of Operation Frequent Wind and the Centennial of Naval Aviation, diamond anniversaries for both the Pearl Harbor attack and the Battle of Midway, the golden anniversary of the end of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, and the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II. Naturalization ceremonies and a 9/11 commemoration ceremony have also become familiar events aboard the ship.

Midway’s longstanding tradition, “Legacy Week,” is the centerpiece of Memorial Day celebrations in San Diego and unofficially kicks off the museum’s busy summer season. From the fan-favorite Top Gun Party and Movie Night (and Top Gun Maverick) to exclusive encounters with aviators and a solemn Memorial Day Wreath Ceremony, Legacy Week truly encapsulates the essence of Memorial Day weekend as a heartfelt tribute to our military's valor and sacrifices.

It is with these efforts of Marketing and Events over the past two decades, combined with the tremendous support of all other departments, that the USS Midway Museum has welcomed aboard and celebrated its 20 millionth visitor in July 2024. Together, Marketing and Events continue to keep the bright light shining on Midway as America’s Living Symbol of Freedom.