Martin Luther King Day Means Free Admission At North Carolina Aquariums

By Amy Kilgore 

Kure Beach, NC - The North Carolina Aquariums will celebrate the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday by waiving admission fees. The 2009 holiday falls on Monday, January 19. North Carolina’s three public aquariums are located at Fort Fisher, at Pine Knoll Shores, and on Roanoke Island. 

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is one of two holidays each year that the aquariums reserve for the public to visit without an admission charge.  The other “free day” is Veterans Day (Nov. 11).

The aquariums are open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., 362 days each year.  Normal admission charges are: $8 adults; $7 seniors; $6 ages 6-17.  The aquariums offer free admission for: age 5 and under; registered groups of N.C. school children; N.C. Aquarium Society members.  All three facilities are closed on Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day and New Years Day.

N.C. Aquarium at Fort Fisher is located just south of Kure Beach, near the mouth of the Cape Fear River, on U.S. 421. The site is less than a mile from the Fort Fisher ferry terminal. Hours: 9:00 am to 5:00 pm daily (closed Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day). Admission: $8 adults; $7 seniors; $6 ages 6-17. Free admission for: children under 6; registered groups of N.C. school children, and NC Aquarium Society members. General information: www.ncaquariums.com.

N.C. Aquariums are accredited members of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). AZA and its more than 200 members work together to build North America’s largest wildlife conservation movement, by engaging and inspiring 143 million visitors and their communities to care about and take action to help protect wildlife.