Baltimore's Best 6.22.25 - Flipbook - Page 24
24 The Baltimore Sun | Sunday, June 22, 2025
BALTIMORE’S BEST ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
The jellyfish exhibit at Baltimore’s National Aquarium. THERESA KEIL/NATIONAL AQUARIUM
BEST TOURIST ATTRACTION
NATIONAL AQUARIUM
501 E. Pratt St. 410-576-3800.aqua.org
By Mike Klingaman
T
here’s something fishy about
the numbers. Last year, 1.3
million people visited the
National Aquarium, eager
to see the sharks, dolphins and other
critters that call it home. In August,
the venue logged its 60 millionth guest
as one of America’s foremost displays
of marine exhibits — from the barramundi, an Asian sea bass that changes
sex as it grows, to the Australian lungfish, whose ancestral DNA harks back
more than 400 million years.
Here, visitors with otherwise short
attention spans may gaze at the watery
offerings for hours, giggling at the
antics of Atlantic puffins, gasping at the
sight of blacktip reef sharks and basking in the biodiversity of the 13,000
organisms that have captivated crowds
for 44 years.
“We’re always wiping nose prints
and fingerprints off the glass, and not
just from kids,” said Emma Wesolo-
The Amazon River Forest exhibit at Baltimore’s National Aquarium. ANASTASIA
ski, the Aquarium’s vice president of
marketing. “That speaks to the power
of water, and to the animals that live
there. People use (their visit) as a
time to slow down, to not be on their
phones. They have ‘zen moments’
here.”
Routinely, Wesoloski said, the aquar-
ium draws out-of-towners, in Baltimore on business, seeking respites
from their work.
“They take time away from the
hustle and bustle of their everyday
lives,” she said. 80% of visitors hail
from outside the Baltimore area, and
their habitats are as far-reaching as
those of the animals and plants themselves.
A favorite attraction is the jellyfish
exhibit, a hands-on display of nine
alien-like jellies swimming in a touch
pool, along with sting rays and horseshoe crabs.
“People come and fall in love with
our animals,” Wesoloski said. Also,
with each other. Couples hold engagement parties at the aquarium where,
in a tank at the Atlantic Coral Reef
exhibit, amid the eels, sharks and
turtles, a diver will tap on the glass and
hold up a sign from the groom-to-be
asking, “Will you marry me?”
jklingaman@baltsun.com
BOWLING
PARK
GREENMOUNT BOWL
SHERWOOD GARDENS
Honorable mentions:
Parkville Lanes
Perry Hall Lanes
Honorable mentions:
Patterson Park
Cromwell Valley Park
Riverside Park
CASINO
LIVE! CASINO & HOTEL
MARYLAND
PRIVATE SCHOOL
Honorable mention:
Horseshoe Casino Baltimore
CHARITY/NONPROFIT
Honorable mentions:
Calvert Hall College High School
Mount Saint Joseph High School
The John Carroll School
GREATER NORTH POINT
ASSOCIATION
PUBLIC SCHOOL
Honorable mentions:
Chesapeake Bay Association
Meals on Wheels
Helping Up Mission
COLLEGE/UNIVERSITY
LOYOLA BLAKEFIELD
HEREFORD HIGH SCHOOL
Honorable mentions:
George Washington Carver Center for
Arts and Technology
Baltimore School for the Arts
Centennial High School
TOWSON UNIVERSITY
Stephens Hall, one of the original buildings at Towson University, features a clock tower.
KIM HAIRSTON/STAFF
Honorable mentions:
University of Maryland, College Park
Loyola University Maryland
Harford Community College
COLUMBIA
DOG PARK
Honorable mentions:
Parkville
Bowleys Quarters
Pasadena
LOCUST POINT DOG PARK AT
LATROBE PARK
THEATER COMPANY
BALTIMORE MUSEUM OF ART
HIPPODROME THEATRE
AT THE FRANCE-MERRICK
PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
Honorable mentions:
Walter’s Art Museum
American Visionary Arts
The Baltimore Art Gallery
Honorable mentions:
Baltimore Center Stage
Toby’s Dinner Theatre
Everyman Theatre
GOLF COURSE
TOURIST ATTRACTION
MOUNTAIN BRANCH GOLF
CLUB
THE NATIONAL AQUARIUM
GALLERY
Honorable mentions:
Eagle’s Nest Country Club
Bay Hills Golf Club
Honorable mentions:
Fort McHenry
CFG Bank Arena
Live! Casino & Hotel Maryland
MUSEUM
WEDDING VENUE
B&O RAILROAD MUSEUM
GREYROCK MANSION AND
THE LIRIODENDRON MANSION
(TIE)
Honorable mentions:
Baltimore Museum of Art
American Visionary Arts
The Walters Art Museum
With hula hoops , tulips and azaleas in blossom around himself, Marlin Ballard Jr. of
Oella plays soprano recorder at Sherwood Gardens. KARL MERTON FERRON/STAFF
SUBURB
Honorable mentions:
Rockfield Manor
Padonia Park
Overhills Mansion (tie)
The Hall at Live! Casino (tie)
