When Cincinnati Art Museum officials decided to stay open until midnight last Sunday, the final day of the European Masterpieces exhibition, here's some of what went into the 12-hour, record-breaking day:

        • Visitor satisfaction coordinator Sheila Hunt directed traffic in the rain. That was no small feat, with cars idling on Eden Park Drive for as long as 20 minutes.

        • Elegant Fare was called in to work the evening hours, taking drink orders as people waited in line to see the touringexhibit from Victoria, Australia.

        • Thom Collins and Jennifer Howe were among 15 curators who gave up their Sunday to work crowd control at the museum entrance.

        • Director of marketing Jackie Reau took orders from her colleagues and made a run to Taco Bell.

        By the time Sunday's final visitor strolled through the show at 11:15 p.m., Jan. 14, 2001 was a day that made history for the museum.

        The 6,661 visitors were a one-day record and helped bring the total show attendance to 62,284.

        That noon-to-midnight marathon was pulled together at 3 p.m. Saturday when, with lines out the door, the museum had sold all remaining tickets for the weekend.

        It was impossible to extend Saturday's hours because the museum was committed to a private rental. So, Ms. Reau says, director Timothy Rub met with key players, including museum security, and came up with the plan.

        The sales flurry continued. The only tickets that went unsold were a few for the final entry at 10 p.m.

        More good news: the museum sold “hundreds” of memberships last Sunday according to Ms. Reau thanks to the separate, shorter entrance line for museum members. More than 1,500 new memberships were sold during the course of the show.

        It was also a good weekend for cultural tourism. Following a Jan. 7 one-minute feature on CBS Sunday Morning, there was a “spike” in sales of a three-day package offered by Greater Cincinnati Convention and Visitors Bureau that included tickets to European Masterpieces, Titanic at Cincinnati Museum Center and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra concerts. “We had people from Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis,” Ms. Reau reports.

        While Sunday's marathon was manned essentially by professional staff, Fran Cohen, who was volunteer coordinator for European Masterpieces, counted 3,400 volunteer hours during the course of the exhibit.

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