NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. (WKBW) — The Aquarium of Niagara is celebrating its 60th birthday in Niagara Falls, and as a result, you can expect some new additions to the property both inside and out.
Marking this anniversary, the aquarium has added three new features:
1. A brand-new virtual reality exhibit is almost ready; planned opening by the end of the month.
“The VR experience is an immersive Shark Dive... It’s like a self-seated 4D theater. The seat moves, and it makes you feel like you are in there. You are able to look around freely with the headset on,” Aquarium President/CEO Chad Fifer said. “The closest you can get until we have the actual sharks (in the video) here.”
2. A new art exhibit will line the fence of the outdoor seal tank, some of the first pieces were placed by Harry F Abate Elementary School students
“It takes an area that can be relatively bland, a stretch of fence that we have to have for containment around an outdoor exhibit, and it brings it to life and makes it another community resource,” Fifer said.
3. Mayor Robert Restaino announced an honorary renaming of Walnut Avenue, the street bordering the parking lot, to Aquarium Way.
“Oh, it’ll be permanent,” Restaino said. “We just think it’s a good way to signify how important the aquarium is to all of the city.”
“As we look to the future and we think about what an expanded aquarium campus could look like, the idea of having an Aquarium Way and having an address on Aquarium Way would be an incredible change for the campus,” Fifer said.
WATCH: 'Looking to the future': Aquarium of Niagara unveils new additions for 60th anniversary
