5
COURIER LIFE, APRIL 8-14, 2022
said on social media following
the festivities. “After some
very difficult months behind us,
it sometimes felt like this day
would never come.”
Keeping with tradition of honoring
local charities on opening
day, Luna Park hosted children
from three local organizations —
Children of Promise, the Coney
Island Sharks, and Operation
H.O.O.D. — to highlight their
contributions to the community.
All three groups got a cut of the
park’s opening day proceeds.
Luna Park, named after a poignant
piece of Coney Island’s history,
boasts over 40 games, rides
and roller coasters for families of
all ages to enjoy.
Neighboring attraction Deno’s
Wonder Wheel will reopen
for its 102nd season the following
weekend, on April 10, when it
will again host its storied “Blessing
of the Rides” ceremony on
Palm Sunday. Like this weekend,
the first 102 riders on the famous
Ferris wheel will get to ride for
free following the ribbon cutting
and opening ceremonies.
“The Vourderis family is delighted
to invite everyone to
the 37th Annual Blessing of the
Rides springtime opening,” said
Dennis and Steve Vourderis,
owners and operators of Deno’s
Wonder Wheel Amusement Park,
in a joint statement. “We are excited
to continue the legacy of our
parents, Denos and Lula Vourderis
by inviting the local children
from the Salt & Sea Mission
to enjoy the rides for free, a tradition
since 1985. We look forward
to a great 2022 season and creating
many more WONDER-ful
memories.”
One of the pint-sized visitors of the new exhibit shares a big smile as he
hangs out in an underwater plant. Julie Larsen Maher
‘Playquarium’ opens
to public in Coney
BY JESSICA PARKS
The New York Aquarium’s
newest exhibit, the PlayQuarium,
is now open to the public,
giving children the opportunity
to explore ecological systems
under the sea.
“It gives them a chance to
really get out into the space
and kind of imagine themselves
in the open ocean or in
a coral reef, in these different
marine habitats,” Stephanie
Joseph, New York Aquarium’s
Curator of Education, told
Brooklyn Paper. “So there is a
lot of play space, fun exhibits
that really allow the kids to
use their imaginations.”
The PlayQuarium, a permanent,
year-round exhibit,
now fully open following a
soft opening last month, is
fully-interactive for children
to transform into scientists
navigating through the ocean
and learning in a fun way the
animals and plants that make
a home there, and how best to
protect them.
“Children can investigate
what it’s like to be in the
water, underwater, be a scientist
or a biologist and even
consider conservation in a
fun way,” Joseph said.
The exhibit is housed in one
of the renovated spaces of the
marine museum that was damaged
within the Coney Island
aquarium during Hurricane
Sandy in 2012 and has been
reinvented, now packed with
tons of play space and breathtaking
graphics intended to let
kids have fun while learning
about marine life.
“We are very excited to reimagine
the space as an interactive
Playquarium,” Joseph
said. “This is a place where
there is a lot to do, lots of tactile
activities for young children.”
Young visitors entering
the showcase are greeted with
colorful art that gives them a
taste of what they’ll experience
inside.
There are many different
hats the children can try
on at the PlayQuarium, even
their own favorite sea creature
which might be an angelfish, a
sardine, or even a humpback
whale.
A giant submarine greets
the pint-sized marine biologists
who decide to check out
to the open sea where they can
explore the dark depths of the
ocean floor and get a glimpse
of the animals that live down
there. “You can be a deep-sea
explorer and you go in the submarine
looking for exciting
creatures you will find in the
depth of the midnight zone,”
the curator said.
The life-size kelp forest is
another one of the major features
of the new exhibit —
where children can pretend
they are sea otters in an algae
playground, navigating ladders
and slides as they make
their way through the watery
wonderland. “It’s just really
larger than life,” Joesph said,
“a lot of fun for kids to kind of
act out the life of a sea otter.”
This is the aquarium’s first
fully bilingual exhibit and is
fully wheelchair accessible.
“I think it’s super exciting
for us because it really gives
us a chance to reach out to our
community in a new way,” said
Joseph. “It really helps us to
make this a more-inclusive exhibit
space.”