Belle Isle Aquarium

[Regalblue]

Cool little video
http://www.freep.com/videonetwork/1429777553001?odyssey=mod|tvideo|newswell

*For anybody who remembers him- that's SuperG down there helping out
I know alot of us have had differences with him. But, I gotta give him credit for volunteering his time.*

[whiteram98]

I think its great! I have some fish to donate ther, have to get a contact#.

[SKISWETPETS]

I think thats fantastic!! I would love to take the family there.. The kids would love it.

[Regalblue]

Warren- I'll work on the contact number&  PM it to you.

[css merrimac]

It's good to see people volunteering their time and labor to work at the B.I.A. and put an effort to start the place again and hopefully open more often in the future. The cleaning and painting and all the work done shows the peoples concern and desire for the place and fish. I commend them for their actions/efforts...well-done and I wish them Success.!!    Just from the video--you can see the results of their hard work!! It is pleasing to see this. 

[GVsailor]

That's so great to see.  I wish I were closer to help. 

[Nick]

Very cool.

[Marty]

I'm here now, there's a huge line!

[Thriftyfisher]

I wish I had kown about this before today.  I bet a could have gotten some people together from the West Side to drive down go to Belle Isle and then hit a couple of shops.  It woudl have made for a great winters day. 

[Dan K]

I wish I had kown about this before today.  I bet a could have gotten some people together from the West Side to drive down go to Belle Isle and then hit a couple of shops.  It woudl have made for a great winters day.

yeah that would have been sweet! I guess I should have watched the video before today!

[Regalblue]

Sorry guys I just found the video last night.

If you're on Facebook you can "like" their page&  you'll get updates.

[Regalblue]

Contact/volunteer  info can be found here -> http://www.belleisleaquarium.com/

[Marty]

Well, here's my report.  We got there around 2:15, and it took about 45 minutes to get in due to length of the line.  They had about a dozen tanks filled with water, and the building itself was cleaned up nicely.  I heard the girl with a clicker tell another volunteer as I passed that they had over 3300 people come through so far, and there were probably a couple hundred people behind me.

While the building is nice, I would think that if it were operated as a business, there would have to be expansion to garner enough interest to bring in paying customers.  I was looking at the building, and there looked like there was enough space for a pretty big addition on the left side of the building.  After I win the Powerball tonight, I'll have to look into it

The other thing I noticed was that donors were recognized with a placard above the aquariums.  Several were marked "Donated by The Fish Pimp Aquaculture Enterprises" 

[PaulineMi]

WOW!  That is so cool.  I used to live in the Detroit area and I remember going to the aquarium from the time I was a little kid until around the time it closed. My parents (Dad's 87) used to go to Belle Isle when my Dad was "courting" my Mom.  I remember the Belle Isle zoo, the little wild deer and renting horse and buggies to go on the trail out there.  Hopefully there will be renewed life and interest in Belle Isle with the opening of the aquarium.

[Marty]

This is not a permanent reopening, just a special event.  I suspect the conservancy group would need to secure a significant amount of money to reopen on a regular basis.