Brady Barr Uses His Hands

Dr. Brady Barr was our last featured guest for Sound Conversations and he is captivating. The background photo is him holding a 20 odd foot reticulated python with the help of some locals in Indonesia. Don't miss the next Sound Conversations on May 6th with Rick Keil. More soon...

Sound Indeed

With Spring here in Seattle comes our annual Sound Conversations with Jeff Renner Program here at the Seattle Aquarium. 2010 is our third year of this unique program that features Jeff Renner our local King 5 Meteorologist having a conversation in some way about our own Puget Sound or 'Sound' stewardship of our marine environment. We kicked the program off in March with Philippe Cousteau, grandson to the legendary Jacques Cousteau.

This was a very special event partly because of Philippe's notoriety, but primarily because the Aquarium is such a beautiful and poignant setting to have a serious discussion about the health of our oceans and the importance of reviving and sustaining these precious ecosystems.

As Sound Conversations has matured, it's become such a wonderful event for the community and a pitch perfect use of our space. We couldn't ask for a better forum to highlight our venue and the wonderful conservation work our evening events help to support.

Thanks to all those who came out for Philippe and to all of you who came out last week for Dr. Brady Barr! Please join us on May 6th for a conversation with Dr. Rick Keil. He'll be discussing urban watersheds, their interaction with the Puget Sound and how we can minimize our environmental impact on these important local resources.

Spring Fever?

Hi All-

Well Octopus Week was a smashing success, we had a fruitful union between male and female, so to speak. We had about 25,000 visitors over the week participating in Octopus discussions, dissections and even children's games!

Some great press from Komo 4 here:

http://www.komonews.com/news/local/84383762.html

Lets see....

We recently wrapped our Annual Presidents Dinner. It was a great success and we were delighted to welcome Governor Gregoire as our featured speaker.

The menu for this event was simply outrageous. Our supremely gifted Chef Betsy put together the following for our guests:

Sweet Potato Turnover, Chipotle-Bourbon Dip

Warm Sea stack Cheese, Fig Chutney, Fennel Cracker

Spoon Canapé of Crab and Meyer Lemon Salad, artichoke dip

Chicken Wontons with Green Chili-ginger dip

Baby Romaine with Parmesan Flan, melted tomatoes and salsa verde (without anchovies)

Sliced Beef Tenderloin and Short Ribs Bourguignon with layered root veggies, roasted carrots, pickled

Roasted Sablefish with piquillo pepper-almond-olive relish, chevre potatoes, golden raisin emulsion

Roasted Delicatta Squash Blintz with mushroom ragout

PB&J (chocolate peanut butter cream w/ geleed grape, honeyed strawberries & salted peanut caramel)

Chocolate Almond Meringue Snowball

That's it for now. I'll be back soon with reports of our Finding Nemo night this Friday!

Octo-Love

Hi Everyone, Happy Octopus Week!

I don't know if you all caught the game last night but it was a thriller. One of the best Superbowls in recent memory and I can't think of a team who deserved it more. Now that the Holidays and the Superbowl are behind us, things are starting to rev up once again at the Seattle Aquarium.

We're just about to head into Octopus week which is seven days of special exhibits, Octopus interaction and games. We even let them get romantic on Valentines day which isn't quite as weird as it sounds, but...nonetheless. :)

And even though it's only February, I think a lot of us can feel Spring coming around the corner. I've got about six local high schools all talking to me about their proms, and all kinds of NW companies calling about summer picnics so I know we can't be that far away. The summer calendar is filling up fast though so let us know if you're considering a summer event with great sunset views in spectacular venue. Don't forget to ask us about special offers for folks that book an event by the end of the February. That's all for now. Have a great month and come down for Octopus week!

First Weddings of the Decade

Hi Everyone-

Just a heads up that the Seattle Aquarium will be at the Seattle Wedding Show this weekend at the Seattle Convention Center. We're excited to get out and talk to you all about our Summer Weddings. Since our renovation in 2007 our wedding business has grown year over year and its no surprise the secret's getting out. With one of Seattle's best waterfront decks for spectacular sunset ceremonies combined with the renowned Puget Sound Great Hall for dinner, dancing and entertainment and even all of the touching pools, and exhibits for the kids-we're establishing ourselves as not only the most unique and jaw droppingly beautiful; but also the most seamless, natural venue around as well.

One of the things we’re most proud of in our wedding business is the relationships we’ve developed with new couples and their families. Planning a wedding is a long process the requires a lot of face time and we’ve come to see our couples less as clients than as lifelong Aquarium Friends that are able to come back again and again to a friendly face and place.

If you're planning on checking out the Wedding Show, stop by our booth(#1437) because we're offering some outstanding discounts for couples we meet through the wedding show.

What a Wonderful Winter!

Hi Again Everyone-

I must apologize for the infrequent posts as of late, but we're just finishing up an incredible Holiday Season. What started with 1100 people dancing and reveling from Seattle University ended with 1000 people bringing in the new decade.

November saw more events here than years past and some very exciting parties. Our annual Finding Vino wine tasting was the best we'd ever had, with about 300 donors and close friends of the Aquarium.

And with the new addition of a suspended lighting truss, our space has become even more stunning than before.

One of the events we were most excited about was the MLS Host Party we hosted for Major League Soccer and the Seattle Sounders. This was a SMASH! Guests entered along a red carpet and mugged for photos against a backdrop of all national soccer jerseys, flags and the official MLS Cup Trophy!

Our Puget Sound Great Hall was re-imagined as a Seattle Sounders Den. Beautiful blues and greens were washed all along the walls, floors and ceiling with a Seattle Sounders diver in the underwater exhibit kicking around a soccer ball and mugging for photos with guests and players.

Many of the guests were more keen to have their photo taken with our diver than with the star MLS players or the trophies!

When December rolled around we barely had time to sleep around here and in the current environment, we were happy for it! We hosted lovely Holiday parties for some of the area's most notorious companies. Boeing, Amazon, Nordstroms, etc. Many were repeat clients and we've come to value and respect these clients and view them as friends under the ever growing Aquarium Umbrella.

Holiday Parties are great because you get a sense of the company as any personality you might work with to produce events and because of the relationship you develop you're able to produce a unique, personalized, and memorable event for all involved. I think one of my favorite highlights from the season was having an intra company Rolling Stones cover band play Rolling Stones music all night with all the Mick Jagger swagger and Keith Richards surl. All of this while a diver danced in the tank in a tongue and lips Rolling Stones tour T-shirt.

We ended the year with Seattle's Best New Year's Party. We pulled out all the stops for this one...

a 17 piece, big brass jazz orchestra, DJs throughout the Aquarium, Dancers, Burlesque, Palm and Tarot readers, Massage, several ice bars, Veuve and Dom flowing freely. Guests were dressed to kill in Black Tie/Cocktail Gown attire. This was a stunningly beautiful event and a group of people that really knew how to ring in the new year. We had 18 odd cases of Belvedere Vodka alone!

An incredible amount of work goes into these events, but when you stand back and look at such a massive group of people so happy and in the moment, it's all worthwhile.

Summer Comes to a Close

Hi Folks,

I know it's been a minute since I've posted so let me catch everyone up:
It has a been a BUSY Summer here at the Seattle Aquarium. With an incredible special on every Saturday this summer, we've had our hands full! But my oh my what beautiful events we've had. Seattle weather cooperated with us very well and we've got the sunset ceremony photos to prove it!

We also hosted an incredible Bar Mitzvah for an incredible family that featured WWE Wrestler decor and one of the best dance troupes I've seen.

To cap it all off we hosted 1000 people for Seattle's 18th annual Virgo Party. It was an outrageously decadent black tie party featuring booming hip hop music and reveling dancers. The Aquarium was tranformed for a night!

To end the summer we had our final outdoor ceremony overlooking Elliot Bay and the weather just BARELY held on for us!

We began the Autumn season with our fourth annual Latino City Employees Heritage Celebration. It's a wonderful mix of spicy Latino food and even spicier salsa dancing until the wee hours. This has been a great event for us and we hope to continue the wonderful partnership we have with the Latino City Employees.

That's all for now. We're prepping for a Fall wedding on Saturday featuring Australian themed food and wine and a wonderful trans-continental couple.
Before I go, let me post this photo, generously shared by one of our amazing couples and Laurel McConnell Photography this summer. This has got to be one of the coolest shots of the Aquarium I've seen. Take a look:








Happy Fall and see you all soon!