Canada’s Oceans and YOU: The Rising Sea (Part 1)

Packing and transporting over 50 specimens from the ROM to the Direct Energy Centre at the Exhibition grounds for the Canada’s Oceans and You: An Interactive Exhibition at the Green Living Show is not a simple task. Days of preparation happen: models are placed delicately in or on packing material, real taxidermy specimens must be cleaned and crated, and all are loaded neatly into trucks.

The term “fragile” is quite fitting for this package: Bamboo coral

A Swordfish takes up a surprisingly large amount of space in a truck!

Moving a Narwhal through the corridors of the ROM is tricky business.

We arrived at the DE Centre earlier than most, allowing time to set-up our exhibit. The building was empty, and our space looked deceptively small in such an enormous indoor environment. But our 20 x 40’ plot is actually one of the largest at the Show. As our neighbors started arriving and our exhibit started to come to life, the space seem to grow.

A blank canvas.

In very short order, two crews, one from the ROM and one from our contractor MCM, worked together to create a suspended ocean canopy, complete with sharks and other fishes, whales, and birds, including a Bald Eagle.

The Rising Sea

After two solid days of work, the Canada’s Ocean and You canopy was complete – and awesome. Crews from other exhibits shared their appreciation for the work, and the finished product. The canopy will provide an immersive experience for our visitors, one that will blanket them as we tell stories of our marine biodiversity.

The canopy is complete, now for the main floor.