Ripley’s hosting Valentine’s soirée at aquarium,
Love’s in the water at Ripley’s Aquarium this Valentine’s Day
Whether you’re hooked or still fishing, Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada is hosting a Deep Sea Soirée this Valentine’s Day. The venue’s first ever 19+ event, the aquatic affair will see 1,500 seafaring sweethearts drink and dance alongside sultry sharks and alluring eels. We got in touch with Amanda Blenkhorn, the aquarium’s director of education, conservation and events, to get answers to a few fishy questions.
Can we expect to see fishy flings?
That’s always a possibility here at the aquarium and especially on Valentine’s Day when there’s an atmosphere of love! A lot of our animals mate.
What else can we expect for Valentine’s Day?
Once you’re in the aquarium with a glass of wine, it’s just a whole other environment. It’s very intimate.
There will be a lot of Valentine’s Day decor, special Valentine’s Daythemed dive shows and some great food from Daniel et Daniel, a caterer here in Toronto, with fun things like a doughnut wall, a Steamwhistle cheese fondue bar, a dark chocolate fondue bar and some really fun Valentine’s Day-themed canapés and hors d’oeuvres. We’ll also have a DJ spinning tunes. I’m sure there will be love songs. Do the animals respond to music?
They don’t. Funny enough, our divers are in the tanks when events are going on, and music is being played and they actually can’t hear anything because the acrylic is so thick and the water creates a barrier. Our general guideline is that we keep the music under a certain decibel level and make sure that it’s comfortable not just for the animals, but for our guests as well. We’re very aware of sound. It won’t feel like a rave in here, I’ll just say that. But it will be a fun time. We all know people get silly when they’re drinking. Has anyone ever tried to throw something into a tank during an event? Has anyone tried to go for a swim?
We honestly have been lucky in that people have been very respectful of the environment they’re in. As far as foreign objects going into the tanks, we’ve had people drop phones, but nothing obviously aggressive where beer bottles have been lobbed in or anything. With phones, we get them out extremely quickly. And as far as anyone trying to go swimming, we have an open Ray Bay. That’s a touch tank. People haven’t fallen in, but they’ve gotten a little more wet than expected by leaning over a bit too much. But thankfully there’s been no intentional swimmers, although we actually do have a Swim with the Rays program where people pay money to get in the tank.
Do the animals behave differently during events like these?
Not generally; I think they’re inquisitive all the time. The sharks are more active at night, but that’s just in their nature. We also turn the lights off early in some of our exhibits during events because some of our animals are photosensitive. How about future 19+ events? Some things we’re looking at in the future are Pride events and a winterthemed beach party. So I think if this model works for us, in addition to our other programming, we’ll start hosting 19+ events throughout the year.
Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada hosts its Deep Sea Soirée Sunday, Feb. 14 from 8 p.m. to midnight. Tickets cost $50 and include food, a drink ticket and a photo. Visit www.ripleyaquariums.com for information.