Collecting the fish - A Fascination for Fish: Adventures of an Underwater Pioneer - page 236

The marketing department had been busy too, and word of the new
aquarium was spreading throughout California. Many of us did our
bit with newspaper and magazine interviews and, of course, with the
TV and film crews. The sea otter pups were the biggest hits with the
media—proof, as if we needed any, that a high cuteness factor goes a
long way. Everyone wanted to get the pups in their news pieces, and
the poor overworked otter sta¤ were swamped with requests for in-
terviews, photographs, and video footage.
Because of earlier indecision in selecting an exhibit designer, the
graphics production got a late start and delivery of them was running
well behind completion of the rest of the exhibits. It was literally down
to the last minute of the last night that the last graphic panels by the
exhibit tanks were being assembled. Julie Packard, Linda Rhodes, ex-
hibit designers Jody Armstrong and Jim Peterson, and writer Judy Rand
were installing the graphics until midnight many a night before open-
ing day. They kept going, I think, on pizzas and sodas, delivered to the
aquarium at all hours.
Grand opening festivities had been arranged months in advance. End-
less parties for VIPs and special groups were held during the two weeks
before we o‹cially opened to the paying public. On the big day itself,
October 20, 1984, Cannery Row was closed to vehicular tra‹c. The
response of Monterey Peninsula residents was very moving. Several lo-
cal school and civic groups paraded down the legendary street, made
famous in part by John Steinbeck and Ed “Doc” Ricketts, heading to-
ward the aquarium. There were kids dressed up as all kinds of marine
creatures—crabs, fish, octopuses, and a very imaginative class of little
jellyfish. It was poignant to see the creative e¤orts these teachers and
schoolchildren had made in preparation for this long-anticipated day.
The hour to open the doors finally came, and all the sta¤ was there,
as excited and full of anticipation as the anxiously waiting visitors. A
sound system had been set up in front of the entrance, and Julie, Lu-
cile, and David Packard gave brief but inspiring speeches. Then the
first visitors were allowed to buy their tickets. The people loved the
aquarium. Many stood awestruck in front of the tall Kelp Forest ex-
hibit, with its gently swaying kelp and swarms of fish. They'd never
seen anything like it.