The Waikiki Aquarium turns 115 years old this year, and, of course, there will be a party. Everyone is invited, so mark your calendar: 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. March 24.

In addition to live entertainment, there will be a crafts and education station and creative pursuits with local artists Patrick Ching, Dennis Mathewson and Allen Tsukamoto. The American Cetacean Society’s activity will revolve around aquatic mammals such as whales and dolphins, and Pigtails & Crewcuts, a children’s salon, will be offering ocean-themed haircuts and hairstyling (for example, short hair can be gelled to resemble a shark’s fin).

All of this family-friendly fun is included with regular admission; food and beverages will be available for purchase.

The festivities continue from 6 to 9 p.m. that evening at A Sustainable Celebration, a fundraiser for the aquarium. Savor tidbits provided by Town, Duke’s Waikiki, Herringbone Waikiki, Tiki’s Bar & Grill and other popular restaurants. Alx Kawakami, Josh Tatofi, Paula Fuga and Star Kalahiki will command the stage.

Tickets ($100 per person; $2,500 and up for VIP tables of eight) can be purchased online at wa115.eventbrite.com.

Here’s more going on at the aquarium:

The Living Reef

Unveiled just a month ago, this exhibit provides an up-close look at live coral species from the Pacific Ocean. Pacific reefs are home to more than 600 species of soft and stony corals (the latter are the marine animals that produce the rigid calcium carbonate skeletons that form reefs).

Marine biologists from the University of Hawaii helped create the 12 displays, each of which features a live coral, a coral skeleton and an educational infographic. The displays will be periodically changed to keep abreast of the university’s latest coral research.

Don’t miss the 3-D sculpture of a polyp, the smallest building block of a coral colony, or the interactive kiosk that describes marine ecosystems and coral ecology and physiology.

For those who aren’t able to visit the Waikiki Aquarium, a Living Reef companion exhibit will be on view at Kapolei Hale Satellite City Hall through March 24. It includes a video about the Kumulipo Hawaiian creation chant and six spectacular 24-by-36-inch coral images by professional underwater photographer Keoki Stender.

Beginning March 28, this traveling exhibit can be seen at the Outrigger Reef on the Beach hotel in Waikiki.

Mauka to Makai Environmental Expo

On April 20, the 12th-annual Mauka to Makai Environmental Expo will raise awareness about the importance of protecting and preserving Hawaii’s precious natural resources. From 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., some 20 government agencies, conservation groups and research organizations will sponsor activities and exhibits focused on that theme. They include Lyon Arboretum, Friends of Hanauma Bay, Garden Club of Honolulu, Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, the State Department of Health’s Clean Water Branch and the Storm Water Quality Branch of Honolulu’s Department of Facility Maintenance.

A puppet show, fish release, native plant giveaway and arts and crafts activities are planned. Admission is free, and there will be free parking at Jefferson Elementary School, 324 Kapahulu Ave., beginning at 8:45 a.m. Free shuttle service will be operating to and from the aquarium from 8:45 a.m. to 2:15 p.m.

Ke Kani o ke Kai

The Aquarium’s summer concert series Ke Kani o ke Kai will feature local performers June 13 and 27, July 11 and 25 and Aug. 8.

Concerts will begin at 7 p.m., and guests should bring beach mats or low sand chairs to set on the aquarium’s lawn. Food and beverages will be available for sale.

Tickets are $50 for adults, $20 for children 5-12 and free for kids 4 and under. Discounts for Friends of the Waikiki Aquarium members and those attending all five concerts. Visit waikikiaquarium.org/kkokk.

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About the Waikiki Aquarium

Opened on March 19, 1904, the Waikiki Aquarium is the second-oldest public aquarium in the United States (after Woods Hole Science Aquarium in Woods Hole, Mass.). Known as the Honolulu Aquarium at the time of its opening, it was established as a commercial venture by the Honolulu Rapid Transit and Land Co., which wished to “show the world the riches of Hawaii’s reefs.”

As directors of the transit company, Charles M. Cooke gave a gift of $8,000 for the aquarium’s construction and James B. Castle contributed the lease for the building site. They also had a practical objective in using the aquarium as a means of enticing passengers to ride to the end of the new trolley line in Kapiolani Park, where the aquarium was located.

The aquarium opened with 35 tanks and 400 marine organisms, and during its first year, the internationally renowned biologist David Starr Jordan proclaimed it as having the finest collection of fish in the world.

For its first 15 years, the aquarium operated as a privately financed institution, with animals collected by local fishermen. In 1912, the C.M. Cooke Estate donated funds for a marine biology laboratory adjoining the aquarium, beginning its research tradition. The laboratory’s first director, Charles H. Edmondson, was the first professionally trained marine biologist to live in Hawaii.

Edmondson promoted research programs in tropical marine biology, and his work paved the way for later University of Hawaii marine research laboratories. When the aquarium’s property lease expired in 1919, the Cooke Estate ceded it to the Territory of Hawaii, and the newly formed University of Hawaii assumed administration of the aquarium and the laboratory.

In 1949, the Territorial Legislature funded construction of a new aquarium building about 100 yards south of the original aquarium site. This new facility, known as the Waikiki Aquarium, opened in 1955.

The aquarium is still housed in the 1955 building; the entire property occupies 2.35 acres of state land on the shoreline of Waikiki Beach next to a living reef. It showcases more than 500 marine species and maintains more than 3,500 marine specimens.

Source: Waikiki Aquarium

Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi is a Honolulu-based freelance writer whose travel features for the Star-Advertiser have won several Society of American Travel Writers awards.