CAMDEN, N.J. - When it opened five years ago, the New Jersey State Aquarium was a "pioneer" on the Camden waterfront - a successful one at first. Nearly 600,000 visitors passed through its doors in the first four months of operation. During the next 12 months, 832,000 attended.
Then, attendance sank.
The new aquarium's exhibits weren't as colorful as those at the National Aquarium in Baltimore, and the waterfront was missing attractions to lure visitors outside of the region. Only 447,000 came to the Camden facility in fiscal 1995.
"The bad thing about pioneers is that they often end up with arrows in the back," said Michael I. Crowther, president and chief executive officer of the aquarium. "We were in the middle of nowhere - with nothing on the waterfront but a jail."
Now the aquarium seems on the way to addressing its problems - if not solving them.
Attendance on the rise
Attendance rebounded to 510,000 visitors last year, as more people came to see colorful new exhibits, such as the $3.75 million "Ocean Base Atlantic," and others combined aquarium visits with shows at the new Waterfront Entertainment Centre nearby.
Now, the Camden attraction is going after visitors beyond the Philadelphia-Camden region with dramatic new exhibits and other attractions to make a day-trip more worthwhile.
A fierce-looking tiger shark will be introduced to the 760,000-gallon Open Ocean tank this year, making the aquarium the only one in the nation to display the huge predator. Large bluefin and yellowfin tuna also will be added to the tank. And Peruvian Humboldt penguins will be brought in for an outdoor exhibit.
The penguin habitat will be next to another coming feature: the permanent $5 million, 3-acre Camden Children's Garden that will be completed next year and filled with exhibits drawn from children's literature, folk tales, and local history and geography.
The garden, though still in the planning stages, will probably include an enclosed carousel; a water garden; Mr. McGregor's garden, from the story of "Peter Rabbit"; a miniature train ride known as the Garden State Express; and an "Eagle's Nest Lookout" tree house with a climbing rope.
The Children's Garden education programs will emphasize horticulture and the land.
Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to visit the garden and the aquarium, which will be connected to Penn's Landing by the newly renovated RiverLink Ferry, offering 20-minute cruises along the waterfront.
