As thanks for the support of its hometown, The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk is offering all Norwalk residents free Aquarium admission on Sat., Dec. 1, plus discounts on IMAX® movies, food and gift shop purchases.
Norwalk residents can enjoy their favorite Aquarium animals, touch a live shark and explore three special exhibits, all at no charge. (Proof of residency is required.)
Highlights of a general admission visit include:
• the aquarium itself, featuring more than 2,700 marine animals – including seven-foot sand tiger sharks, harbor seals, river otters, sea turtles and pulsing jellyfish – nearly all of which are native to Long Island Sound and its watershed. Seal feedings are at 11:45 a.m. and 1:45 & 3:45 p.m. daily. Two touch tanks bring animals to your fingertips.
• the 11th annual “Festival of Lighthouses” display, which illuminates Aquarium galleries with 22 working lighthouses creatively handcrafted out of everything from yarn and clay to stained glass and coffee-creamer cuplets. Visitors choose the winners. Be sure to vote for your favorite!
• the “Meerkats” special exhibit, in which a family of active, cute meerkats dig, romp and explore in a re-created African desert landscape.
• and the special exhibit, "African Underwater Safari," features some of the unusual aquatic animals native to the African continent, including cichlids, electric catfish and lungfish. It also includes big snakes, turtles and geckos.
The Maritime Aquarium also displays two historic Works Progress Administration (WPA) murals painted by Alexander Rummler in 1937. (The WPA was established in the mid-1930s as part of FDR’s “New Deal” to help shake America out of the Great Depression and get people – including artists – back to work.) “Salute Norwalk Day” gives city residents the free opportunity to view these two treasures.
On “Salute Norwalk Day,” Norwalk residents also can receive $1 discounts on the daytime showings of the IMAX movies “Search for the Great Sharks” at 11 a.m., “Born to Be Wild” at noon, “To the Arctic” at 1 & 3 p.m., and “Sea Rex: Journey to a Prehistoric World” at 2 p.m.
The deals reach into the Gift Shop, where Norwalk residents will receive 10 percent discounts on Dec. 1 – just in time for holiday shopping.
“Salute Norwalk Day” is just one of many contributions The Maritime Aquarium makes to Norwalk and its citizens. The Aquarium offers dozens of educational programs and other marine science opportunities that supplement the education of Norwalk's students, sometimes at no cost to the schools. And the Aquarium and its 500,000 visitors inject more than $20 million annually into Norwalk's economy.
Learn more about the exhibits, IMAX films and special programs offered at The Maritime Aquarium by calling (203) 852-0700 or by going online to www.maritimeaquarium.org.
