THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, January 15, 1996 TAG: 9601150039
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DEBRA GORDON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 81 lines
``Yuck, yuck, yuck. What is this?'' muttered 10-year-old Sarah Lachman as she pressed a button illuminating a display at the Virginia Marine Science Museum's new Owls Creek Marsh Pavilion.
``This'' was a depiction of the underground life that teems throughout the marsh, and it was one of dozens of new interactive displays in the 20,000-square-foot building, which opened Thursday.
By late Sunday afternoon, more than 1,400 people had toured the new building and its adjacent paths and boardwalks, which meander one-third of a mile along Owl Creek to the museum's core complex on General Booth Boulevard.
Reaction has been very positive, said Lynn Clements, coordinator of programs and operations.
Even Sarah, despite her initial nose-wrinkling reaction to the muddy surroundings behind the glass case, was pleased.
``I like it,'' said the Chesapeake girl. ``It's interesting, very interesting.''
Her grandmother, Peggy Lachman of Virginia Beach, who has been a museum member for years, called the expansion ``money well spent.''
The new building is part of a $35 million museum expansion that will open in stages. While the marsh pavilion opened Thursday, not all the exhibits are in place.
Two other additions, featuring a 300,000-gallon ocean aquarium and a 3-D IMAX theater, are scheduled to open in early summer.
The marsh exhibit gives the community a ``sneak preview'' of the new complex, Clements said. The novelty helped the museum sign nearly 40 new members by the end of the weekend, she said.
Mary Carol Lynch of Virginia Beach was already a member when she toured the new facility Sunday with her 5-year-old daughter.
She was thrilled with what she found. ``It's larger than life, so the little ones can immerse themselves in it,'' she said as her daughter peered into a microscope that showed plankton in the marsh water.
The marsh exhibit operates on the philosophy that if visitors simply wandered the marsh outside, they wouldn't know what they were seeing, Clements said.
So a 15-minute movie of the marsh, combined with ``micro-marsh'' and ``macro-marsh'' exhibits, help people understand the variety of life that exists there, she said.
The micro-marsh, for instance, features displays of actual marsh life. Video cameras allow visitors to zoom in on the small animal life within.
The macro-marsh takes the common grasses that line the marsh and enlarges them 10 times, so visitors feel as if they are walking through the marsh perimeter, closely viewing the tiny insects and sea life that live there.
When the rest of the expansion is completed in early summer, the museum will grow from 40,000 square feet to 120,000 square feet of indoor space and from nine acres to 45 acres outdoors.
Highlights of the other additions include a 300,000-gallon ocean aquarium, a 70,000-gallon sea turtle aquarium, a sea turtle hatching laboratory, a harbor seal pool, a six-story 3-D IMAX theater and an indoor-outdoor restaurant. MEMO: The Virginia Marine Science Museum, at 717 General Booth Blvd., is open
seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $5.25 for adults,
$4.50 for children under 12 and $4.75 for seniors. Special
expansion-year memberships are $40 for individuals and $60.45 for
families. Admission prices will rise once the expansion is complete. For
more information, call 425-FISH or 437-4949.
ILLUSTRATION: Virginia Marine Science Museum Grows
In the ``macro-marsh'' area, 5-year-old Thomas Dumville gets an
insect's-eye view of a snake.
MOTOYA NAKAMURA photos
The Virginian-Pilot
Dillon Intravatola, 3, zeroes in on a snake in the ``micro-marsh''
exhibit with the help of his dad, Shane.
by CNB