TurtleFest 2021 Canceled

Loggerhead Marinelife Center Cancels TurtleFest 2021. Remains on Track for Waves of Progress Grand Opening

Loggerhead Marinelife Center (LMC) is pausing its signature family-friendly event, TurtleFest 2021, which is generally slated for the month of March. Historically, the free-admission event has welcomed more than 15,000 guests. However, COVID-19 trends have led LMC to suspend the event to ensure the utmost health and safety of visitors, staff, and volunteers.

Despite the event’s cancellation, the Center’s 27,500-square-foot Waves of Progress expansion has been moving at a promising rate. The facility has expanded and remodeled its gift store and moved tanks to a temporary outdoor hospital with proper plumbing. In recent weeks, fifty-six, sixteen-inch diameter auger cast piles were drilled to an approximate depth of forty-two feet to support the Center’s future canopy system. Also, the exterior Bahama shutters and ocean deck aluminum railings have been installed, the inside theater is nearing completion with carpet and chairs pending installation, and landscaping is well underway.

“TurtleFest will be raising its profile following our grand opening,” said Tim Hannon, LMC Co-Interim CEO and Chief Operating Officer. “New elements are sure to elevate the experience from our ocean reef exhibit, ocean-view café and doubling outdoor exhibits for guests to visit.”

The campus is scheduled to be completed in September of 2021 with the help of KAST Construction. In the coming months, LMC will debut double the hospital space, six-times the STEM classrooms, fully-equipped research laboratories, and more.

The Center continues to host programs and public tours seven days a week. Staff and volunteers consistently monitor guest counts, refill hand sanitizing stations, and encourage social distancing. Guests ages two and older are required to wear a mask.

TurtleFest 2022 and an amplified mission awaits! Visit the Waves of Progress webpage to help the final stretch of LMC’s capital campaign.

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Loggerhead Marinelife Center. Loggerhead Marinelife Center (LMC) is a nonprofit sea turtle research, rehabilitation, and educational institution that promotes the conservation of ocean ecosystems with a focus on threatened and endangered sea turtles. The Center features an on-site hospital, research laboratory, educational exhibits, and aquariums, and also operates the Juno Beach Pier, which hosts world-class angling and sightseeing. Situated on one of the world’s most important sea turtle nesting beaches, Loggerhead Marinelife Center is open daily and hosts over 350,000 guests free-of-charge each year. The Center’s conservation team works with 90 local and international organizations across six continents to form partnerships and share conservation initiatives and best practices that are core to its mission of ocean conservation. The Center is expanding and has launched its Waves of Progress capital expansion campaign, designed to accelerate and amplify LMC’s conservation and education impact. When complete, the facility will offer one of the world’s most advanced and unique experiences for guests and scientific partners. For more information, visit www.marinelife.org or call (561) 627-8280.