Good Grief! “Peanuts” Turns 75—Here’s How to Celebrate
More than seven decades after Charlie Brown first walked across the funny pages, the Charles M. Schulz Museum is marking the milestone with special exhibitions and events.
“Well! Here comes ol’ Charlie Brown! Good ol’ Charlie Brown…yes, sir!” exclaims Shermy on Oct. 2, 1950, as he’s sitting alongside Patty on a stoop. “Good ol’ Charlie Brown…How I hate him!”
Sorry, Shermy, but the world hasn’t shared your sentiments. Since that premiere strip, our bald, yellow-shirted everyman has become one of the most beloved comics characters, alongside Snoopy, Woodstock, and the rest of the “Peanuts” gang.
And now, 75 years later, “Peanuts” is still going strong, officially marking its milestone anniversary this Thursday, Oct. 2. You may have seen some of the celebrations throughout the year—corn mazes, limited-edition Snoopy merch, TikTok videos (that’s a cake a World War I flying ace would love!), even British stamps. But the pièce de résistance is the upcoming programming at the Charles M. Schulz Museum.
The museum, located in creator Charles M. Schulz’s longtime home of Santa Rosa, California, has two featured exhibitions: Memorable Moments: Celebrating 75 Years of Peanuts, which runs through Nov. 3, 2025, and HA! HA! HA! HA! 75 Years of Humor in Peanuts, which runs in the museum’s main gallery through March 18, 2026.
Memorable Moments features 50 original “Peanuts” comic strips from the museum’s collection, spotlighting the storylines we all know: Snoopy and his doghouse, the Flying Ace, unrequited love, Lucy’s football trick, the Great Pumpkin, Lucy’s Psychiatric Booth, and more.
HA! HA! HA! HA! celebrates what unites each one of Schulz’s 17,897 strips: humor. Visitors will learn more about Schulz’s personal sense of humor through his never-before-exhibited letters and doodles to friends, and also the devices Schulz employed to make us laugh: third-panel punchlines, sarcasm, puns, non-sequiturs, and more.
Additionally, this Saturday, Oct. 4, from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. PT, join the special Celebrating 75 Years of Peanuts! event at the Schulz Museum where you can take photos with Snoopy and learn to draw your favorite “Peanuts” characters with direction from cartoonist Robert Pope.
On Saturday, Oct. 18 at 1 p.m. PT author Dave Eggers joins Schulz’s widow, Jean Schulz, in a conversation moderated by Benjamin L. Clark, the museum’s curator about humor, cartooning, and, of course, all things “Peanuts.” Attendees will also enjoy drawing demos along with book signings.
And finally on Saturday, Nov. 15 at 2 p.m. PT, meet the team behind the brand-new book, The Essential Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz: The Greatest Comic Strip of All Time, a slipcased tome by Mark Evanier that includes eight prints, stickers, postcards, and more. A book signing will follow this event as well.
Reflecting on the milestone, Jean Schulz says, “It is meaningful to see people of all ages continue to connect with Sparky’s work and creativity 75 years after the strip’s debut. I have been known to quote Sparky’s belief that art is determined 100 years later, and it feels as though this is becoming a reality.”
For details on all #Peanuts75 events, visit schulzmuseum.org/peanuts75. If you can’t make it to Santa Rosa, you can still join the celebration by following @schulzmuseum on social media and exploring their two online exhibitions: Celebrating Peanuts and Hidden Treasures.
All images © Peanuts Worldwide LLC.