Maritime Aquarium Offers Free Admission For Norwalk Residents

From The Maritime Aquarium:

NORWALK, CT – Norwalk residents can get close to seals, sharks and sea turtles for free on Saturday, December 3 in a special admission offer from their grateful hometown jewel, The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk.

On The Maritime Aquarium’s annual “Salute Norwalk Days,” the popular family attraction thanks the residents of Norwalk for their support by offering free admission to city residents. (Proof of residency is required.)

Admission – which includes one of four breathtaking 40-minute IMAX® movies – regularly is $22.95 for adults, $20.95 for youths (13-17) & seniors (65+), and $15.95 for children (3-12).

In addition, Norwalk residents receive 10 percent discounts in the Aquarium Gift Shop on “Salute Norwalk Day.”

Visits to The Maritime Aquarium bring families closer as they get close to more than 2,700 marine animals, including sand tiger sharks, harbor seals, river otters, sea turtles and pulsing jellyfish – all native to Long Island Sound, its watershed and the oceans beyond.

In addition to welcoming Norwalk residents on Dec. 3, the Aquarium also will be hosting “Shark-Diving Santa” at 12:15 and 2:15 p.m. Santa Claus will squeeze into his scuba gear and join the Aquarium’s volunteer dive team in the “Ocean Beyond the Sound” exhibit to dispel myths about sharks, including the featured 7-foot sand tiger and lemon sharks. Santa will swim up to the exhibit window so bring your camera for a unique “photo with Santa.” (“Shark-Diving Santa” is offered most Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays in December.)

“Salute Norwalk Day” also gives city residents a free chance to admire two historic Works Progress Administration (WPA) murals painted by Alexander Rummler in 1937 and displayed in The Maritime Aquarium. (The WPA was part of FDR’s “New Deal” in the 1930s to help shake America out of the Great Depression and to get people – including artists – back to work.)

Plus, the citizenry can take pride in their hometown IMAX movie theater, whose six-story screen is the largest in Connecticut. On Dec. 3, choose between “Jean-Michel Cousteau’s Secret Ocean,” “Born to Be Wild,” “National Parks Adventure” and “A Beautiful Planet.”

“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 450,000 visitors inject more than $20 million annually into Norwalk's economy.

For more information about Maritime Aquarium offerings in December, or to reserve tickets or to purchase an Aquarium Membership for yourself or as a holiday gift, call (203) 852-0700 or go online to www.maritimeaquarium.org.

Image via Maritime Aquarium