Splashdown!
Great Lakes Aquarium joins waterfront

by Cheryl Menzel

In July the Great Lakes Aquarium will open its doors on Duluth’s downtown waterfront and visitors will be able to tour the entire Great Lakes region — all under one roof.

The 62,000-square-foot aquarium and center for science, cultural history and education is expected to draw more than 400,000 visitors a year.

Five large living exhibits will recreate various Lake Superior habitats: Minnesota’s Baptism River and St. Louis River, Wisconsin’s Kakagon Slough in the Chequamegon Bay Wetlands, Michigan’s Pictured Rocks and Isle Royale and Ontario’s Otter Cove. All will showcase geology and fish and mammal species.

Exhibits will be 'touch -- don't just look.'

“This is definitely a ‘touch, don’t just look’ facility,” says Executive Director David Lonsdale. “Exhibits have been designed for audiences of all ages, at all interest levels.”

On entering the aquarium, visitors will be greeted by a 24-foot tall wall of water that has over 40 representations and other words that symbolize or mean “water” from cultures around the world.

A 40-second escalator ride will have guests immersed in sights and sounds of the Lake Superior region as they enter the exhibit area.

More than 30 interactive exhibits have been designed to draw the visitor in, offering opportunities to navigate an ore freighter through the Great Lakes or crawl inside a sea-cave or copper mine.

More than 55 employees and 200 volunteers will be the heart and soul of the aquarium. Staff and volunteers will work together feeding the critters and fish, diving in the 120,000-gallon Isle Royale tank and working on the floor as exhibit interpreters.

The aquarium’s education department will work with an estimated 40,000 students a year in the 2,416-square-foot education wing. Students will recreate the Ojibwa migration story, closely observe the anatomy of a lake trout, collect plankton in the Lake Superior harbor and enlarge them to six feet in diameter and form Internet connections with students around other great lakes of the world.

For more information, call (218) 740-FISH (3474).

Cheryl Menzel is public relations manager for the Great Lakes Aquarium.