On Tuesday, the Tennessee Aquarium was brimming with excitement at the arrival of its 29 millionth guest.
It can be hard to make sense of a number that large, though, so an analogy — or three — may help put that figure into perspective.
- Twenty-nine million jellybeans is enough to fill four Olympic-size swimming pools.
- A line of 29 million pencils laid end to end would stretch from New York City to Tokyo.
- And on the subject of New York, 29 million people is roughly the combined population of The Big Apple, Chicago and Los Angeles.
No matter how you think about it, then, today's visit was a monumental moment for the Aquarium in its 33-year history on Chattanooga's downtown waterfront, says President & CEO Andy Wood.
“It’s thrilling to know that the Tennessee Aquarium has now connected more than 29 million people with nature and inspired them to protect water and wildlife in our region,” Wood says. “Our team is proud to have such an incredible impact on Chattanooga’s development and a commitment to preserving our natural heritage.”
The guest counter dials ticked over with the arrival of the Lee family from Tupelo, Mississippi. Dad and mom, Vince and Olivia, made the trip with their sons Connor, 5, and Calvin, 3, to the Aquarium expecting to see remarkably colorful freshwater fish, toothy Sand Tiger Sharks and penguins rocketing through icy water.
To their surprise, they also received a gift bundle that included free admission, a VIP pass to more than a dozen other area attractions, gift cards for local restaurants and Aquarium merchandise to commemorate their milestone visit.
Being received so enthusiastically by Wood and other Aquarium staff members was, without a doubt, a pleasantly surprising kickoff for a last-minute trip to celebrate Connor's fall break, Vince Lee said.
"I asked Connor what he wanted to do, and he said he wanted to go to an Aquarium. So far, we think we made the right choice," he laughed. "It was a tossup between going to Chattanooga and Atlanta, and we've been to Atlanta, but we've never been to Chattanooga, so we decided to see somewhere new."
The Lee family arrived just in time for ODDtober, the Aquarium’s spooky, family-friendly celebration of the weird and wonderful side of nature. Welcomed by enormous animal eyeballs peering out from the windows of the River Journey building, guests visiting through Oct. 31 can attend daily themed programs to learn “eye-opening” facts about the oddest (if probably misunderstood) residents of the animal kingdom.
At 2 p.m. each Saturday, visitors can watch costume-clad SUCBA divers carrying out pumpkin carving sessions inside the River Journey building's two largest exhibits. Before leaving, they can also grab a special, glow-in-the-dark ODDtober sticker from the gift shop.
At the nearby Tennessee Aquarium IMAX 3D Theater, two 45-minute 3D films are playing daily:
- Shark Kingdom 3D is a new arrival introducing viewers to some of our oceans’ most misunderstood predators.
- Elephants: Giants of the Desert 3D follows baby elephant Little Foot and her family as they follow their matriarch across Africa’s Namib Desert.
Learn more and plan a visit at tnaqua.org/oddtober