Adventure Aquarium

It took three years to come up with a new name for the New Jersey State Aquarium, but there was one guiding principle: Ditch the "New Jersey. " And so it was decreed yesterday that the place would be called the decidedly less regional Adventure Aquarium when it reopens in May after a nine-month expansion. "We didn't want to pigeonhole ourselves," said David Wechsler, vice president of Steiner & Associates, the aquarium's new operator. "The old name sounded too institutional, and we didn't want to get into the whole New Jersey and Philadelphia thing.

CAMDEN - Bigger isn't always better, especially when it comes to attractions for Adventure Aquarium's smallest visitors. "KidZone," which opens Saturday, is the aquarium's most child-accessible exhibit space yet. The underwater windows are closer to the ground, the rooms encourage interaction, and the sea creatures are relatively small. But they all have their quirks. Any child who remembers the film Finding Nemo will recognize the display's orange-and-white clown fish, or the outgoing cleaner shrimp - which, given the opportunity, will climb on your hand and inspect your cuticles.

For cold-weather creatures, winter may seem like no big deal. But just how do they survive in these chilly times? Adventure Aquarium gets at the heart of how animals such as seals and penguins keep warm with "Deep Freeze. " The two-day event gives visitors a look at how animals' built-in defense mechanisms, such as blubber and fur, help them through the winter. "It's educational and it's interactive," says aquarium spokesman Bill Larson. In keeping with the theme, an ice carver will transform blocks of ice into some favorite aquarium creatures, and children can get warmed up on a polar-bear moon bounce.

Outside the Adventure Aquarium in Camden, visitors marveled at penguins waddling over the ground, then quietly slipping into the water. Nearby, seals glided effortlessly through another tank, surfacing to eat fish offered by trainers. The typical routines - regularly seen by crowds at the exhibits - will give way to major changes over the next few years as the Camden waterfront attraction undergoes the most expensive renovation since its privatization in 2005. Preliminary plans call for an expansive new penguin exhibit that will cost millions of dollars and double the size of the current Penguin Island, officials said.

How do you say "Happy Birthday" to a hippo? At Adventure Aquarium, the party for Button, one of two resident hippos, features sing-alongs, face-painting, dancing the "hippo hustle," playing pin-the-tail-on-the-hippo, and even vegetarian "birthday cake" feedings. The 3,000-pound Button, who lives in the aquarium's West African River Experience exhibit, is celebrating her ninth birthday with activities throughout March. "We're the only aquarium in the country to have hippos," said Adventure Aquarium spokesman Bill Larson.

Come out of your shell this weekend and learn how turtles have been able to adapt and survive since prehistoric times at Adventure Aquarium's newest exhibit "Turtles: Journey of Survival. " On display through March 24, the exhibit features more than 20 species of land and sea turtles from around the globe. Each day activities will educate about their biology, evolution, and living habitats. At "The Journey of Five Turtles," a daily interactive show in the Ocean Realm Dive Theater, visitors can learn about vulnerable species and meet Loggerhead Bob; Ozzy, a 3-month-old hatchling; and green sea turtles Old Green and Stitches.

A trio of food trucks will be pulling up to the Camden waterfront every Friday at lunch beginning May 10 and continuing throughout the summer. Organized by the Cooper's Ferry Partnership waterfront development corporation, "Food Truck Friday," as it's being called, is drawing interest from a variety of gourmet trucks around the region, including the three that will start next week: deli-on-wheels Reuben on Rye, Cupcakes 2 GoGo, and Lil' Trent's Treats...

LIKE their tutu-ed cousins in the Walt Disney classic, "Fantasia," Genny and Button slide and shimmy into their rock-garden pool. It's hard to believe that three tons of hippopotami can be so fluid and graceful, but as the two stars of the Adventure Aquarium's West African River Experience exhibit do underwater flips and turns worthy of Olympic synchronized swimmers, it is clear that the new aquatic digs in Camden are an upgrade from what was...

Sharks swam. People pressed against tanks. Pickets protested. As hundreds of children and adults in floppy felt Adventure Aquarium hats inaugurated the shiny, new-again attraction on the Camden waterfront yesterday, police arrested eight people outside. About 70 union demonstrators on the streets in front of the site protested the fate of employees of the former New Jersey State Aquarium. Officers on horses moved the crowd down a hill, farther from the customers. The state facility closed in September to make way for the for-profit Adventure Aquarium, considered the keystone for the waterfront's continued development.

Children can discover their inner shark this weekend in Gill's Clubhouse at Adventure Aquarium in Camden. Kids can compare their strength to that of a shark's jaws by testing out the shark jaw pressure interactive game. They can also meet the aquarium's new mascot, Gill. Families are invited to experience an interactive shark X-ray showing the inner workings of a shark's anatomy and its organs. Other exclusive clubhouse activities let visitors build a virtual shark and compare a human's sense of smell to a shark's.

A trio of food trucks will be pulling up to the Camden waterfront every Friday at lunch beginning May 10 and continuing throughout the summer. Organized by the Cooper's Ferry Partnership waterfront development corporation, "Food Truck Friday," as it's being called, is drawing interest from a variety of gourmet trucks around the region, including the three that will start next week: deli-on-wheels Reuben on Rye, Cupcakes 2 GoGo, and Lil' Trent's Treats...

FEDERAL PROSECUTORS want details about how the Delaware River Port Authority spent millions of public dollars in the past five years on projects that had nothing to do with the agency's mission of operating bridges and a rail line over the Delaware River. The chief of the U.S. Attorney's Office's public-corruption unit in Philadelphia sent the DRPA a subpoena two weeks ago for all records about that spending, dating to January 2008. The DRPA has until Tuesday morning to turn over "board minutes, financial records, grant/loan application packages, correspondence and all electronic communications . . . sent or received by DRPA employees and/or board of commissioners," according to the subpoena, which was obtained Wednesday by the Daily News . DRPA spokesman Tim Ireland confirmed Wednesday that his agency had received the subpoena at its Camden headquarters and is "cooperating fully" to turn over the relevant records.

The name given this year's British-theme Philadelphia Flower Show is "Brilliant!," but the mood at the Camden Children's Garden display this week was anything but bright and sunny - more like cloudy with a chance of despair. As workers set up the fanciful, 320-square-foot exhibit, with a willow tunnel, shed, birdhouses, and dreamy vegetable garden and fruit trees, they couldn't help worrying about the future of the Children's Garden, which recently was ordered by the state to leave its waterfront site next to the Adventure Aquarium.

By Mike Weilbacher The Camden Children's Garden, the jewel on the waterfront tucked between the Adventure Aquarium and Wiggins Park, has been told by its landlord, the state of New Jersey, to remove its exhibits from three of its four acres by March 31. While not quite an eviction notice, the garden would be forced to destroy its signature attractions. Goodbye butterfly house, dinosaur garden, giant teacups, train ride, and more. But the garden's not going down without a fight, and founder Mike Devlin and friends are busy testifying, lining up their political ducks, organizing a Facebook page, and threatening lawsuits.

Camden garden should stay It's troubling that the state wants the Camden Children's Garden to make way for an expansion of the Adventure Aquarium ("Plowing it under," Feb. 1). The garden contributes so much to city residents through employing people, educating children, fighting obesity, and working with stakeholders in the neighborhoods to establish community gardens. The list of success stories and accolades for this organization is endless. Meanwhile, the aquarium hires a limited number of Camden residents, and how many local families can even afford to step into the place?

Come out of your shell this weekend and learn how turtles have been able to adapt and survive since prehistoric times at Adventure Aquarium's newest exhibit "Turtles: Journey of Survival. " On display through March 24, the exhibit features more than 20 species of land and sea turtles from around the globe. Each day activities will educate about their biology, evolution, and living habitats. At "The Journey of Five Turtles," a daily interactive show in the Ocean Realm Dive Theater, visitors can learn about vulnerable species and meet Loggerhead Bob; Ozzy, a 3-month-old hatchling; and green sea turtles Old Green and Stitches.

The sky between Camden and Philadelphia will glow with firework displays to usher in the new year - twice. The "early bird" show begins at 6 p.m. while the traditional display arrives at midnight. The shows, which are free, along the Delaware River waterfront are the result of a cross-city partnership between Camden and Philadelphia. Penn's Landing and the Camden Waterfront will be presented by SugarHouse Casino and produced by Pyrotecnico. The shows will be feature different musical soundtracks.

CORRECTION: An article in Sunday's Inquirer about outstanding loans by the Delaware River Port Authority misstated the status of one loan. The former Home Life Furniture, a manufacturer in Northeast Philadelphia, is now on schedule with its payments after having them deferred for a year. The error was the result of incorrect information supplied by the DRPA.   With more than $20 million in outstanding loans to public and private ventures, the Delaware River Port Authority's economic-development pot is a gift that keeps on giving.

Nearly three years ago, the state prison on North Camden's waterfront was demolished to make room for development that local officials said would improve the neighborhood and boost the city's coffers. But the land remains vacant, generating no revenue for the impoverished city. A bill sponsored by State Sen. Donald Norcross (D., Camden) and Assemblyman Angel Fuentes (D., Camden) asking to sell the 16-acre prison property to the state Economic Development Authority for $1 is slowly making its way through the Legislature.

Outside the Adventure Aquarium in Camden, visitors marveled at penguins waddling over the ground, then quietly slipping into the water. Nearby, seals glided effortlessly through another tank, surfacing to eat fish offered by trainers. The typical routines - regularly seen by crowds at the exhibits - will give way to major changes over the next few years as the Camden waterfront attraction undergoes the most expensive renovation since its privatization in 2005. Preliminary plans call for an expansive new penguin exhibit that will cost millions of dollars and double the size of the current Penguin Island, officials said.