Attraction is looking to renovate and expand
Michele Paterson interacts with one of the Humboldt penguins in the penguin colony, which the aquarium hopes to renovate later this year. Derek Gee/Buffalo News
on June 11, 2015
NIAGARA FALLS – In the mid-1960s, a group of scientists was looking to create synthetic seawater.
NIAGARA FALLS – In the mid-1960s, a group of scientists was looking to create synthetic seawater.
Those young scientists wound up in Niagara Falls, creating what became the Aquarium of Niagara, and finished a formula for synthetic seawater that’s used around the world today.
That’s a main part of the origin of the Aquarium of Niagara, the Niagara Falls attraction that will mark its 50th anniversary with a ceremony at 1 p.m. Friday, 50 years to the day since the facility’s original ribbon-cutting.
Michele
Paterson, assistant supervisor of exhibits at Aquarium Niagara,
interacts with the Humboldt
penguins in their display, which is slated
to expand under a new renovation, celebrating the aquarium’s 50th
anniversary. .
Since
it opened, more than 10 million guests have come through its doors,
said Executive Director Gay B. Molnar.
Annually, the aquarium has
recently seen more than 275,000 visitors during its fiscal year.
“We’ve
done it for 50 years, and we’re looking towards at least another 50
with a lot of great, great, great changes,” Molnar said.
The organization is in the midst of fundraising for a capital project to renovate its penguin habitat, a step aquarium officials say
is necessary to gain accreditation from the Association of Zoos & Aquariums.
Once the accreditation occurs, the aquarium will be able to participate in the Association of Zoos & Aquarium’s “species
survival plan,” an animal conservation initiative to grow its penguin colony.
The aquarium has been working toward accreditation in recent years, with a mentor’s having been appointed by the
Association of Zoos & Aquariums to help guide its progress for the past three years, Molnar said.
The organization is in the midst of fundraising for a capital project to renovate its penguin habitat, a step aquarium officials say
is necessary to gain accreditation from the Association of Zoos & Aquariums.
Once the accreditation occurs, the aquarium will be able to participate in the Association of Zoos & Aquarium’s “species
survival plan,” an animal conservation initiative to grow its penguin colony.
The aquarium has been working toward accreditation in recent years, with a mentor’s having been appointed by the
Association of Zoos & Aquariums to help guide its progress for the past three years, Molnar said.
When finished, the approximately 300-square-foot exhibit will be expanded to between 1,500 and 1,600 square feet of space.
So far, the aquarium has raised about $2.1 million for the $3.2 million project. Officials are still working on fundraising and
hope that some construction can start later this year, in October or November.
The project includes adding interactive classroom space and will give the facility’s Humboldt penguin colony a refurbished space.
The improvements to the penguin exhibit are considered to be the first phase in a $10 million overall capital planOnce it starts,
the work is expected to take six to eight months, with the aquarium – which has sea lions and a harbor seal, in addition to the penguin colony – remaining open during the construction.
The current staff of 20 full-time and 10 part-time employees will grow once the penguin habitat project is complete, though by exactly
how many workers has yet to be determined.
Five decades in, Molnar said, the facility remains dedicated to the region.
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