Mike Bennett's Portland Aquarium, the handcrafted immersive art installation that turned a vacant storefront at 603 SW Broadway into an underwater world of cartoon whales and bubblegum-pink blobfish, will close Sunday, October 4, 2026.
Regular hours end at 7 p.m. that day, the Portland Tribune reported.
Bennett, a Portland artist known for transforming empty downtown spaces into temporary interactive exhibits, opened the installation Friday, June 6, 2025. At roughly 16 months, it's his longest-running project. Previous efforts, Crypto-Zoo and Dinolandia, lasted about 30 days and four months, respectively.
The Portland Aquarium isn't a traditional aquarium. There are no live animals. Instead, visitors enter a fictional research station called the Cascadia Marine Lab, where they become "field observers" tasked with identifying marine life across six ocean biomes. More than 100 hand-sculpted species fill the space, and guests follow an illustrated field guide while hunting for hidden details, including a missing goldfish named Gilly.
Bennett described the concept to the Tribune as "a lot fewer living animals and a lot more creativity."
The science is real, though. Marine biologist Chanel Hason of the Elakha Alliance, an Oregon nonprofit working to restore sea otters to the state's coast, collaborated with Bennett throughout the project to ensure accuracy. Researchers from Oregon State University's Big Fish Lab, which focuses on shark conservation at the Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, also reviewed the exhibit's animals and facts.
The project grew partly from Bennett's childhood. He visited Baltimore's National Aquarium nearly every birthday. In 2021, he built "A, B, Sea," an ocean-themed educational exhibit in his own yard, before scaling the idea up to a downtown storefront.
Bennett announced on Instagram that a new art-focused experience will open in November 2026 at the same SW Broadway address. No details about the replacement have been released.
Beyond the aquarium, Bennett stays busy across Portland. He created Wonderwood Springs, a family-friendly indoor mini golf course and cafe in St. Johns at 8811 N Lombard St., voted Portland's Best Golf Course two years running by Willamette Week readers. He also painted one of the 30 six-foot fiberglass crow sculptures for the Wildwood: Follow the Crows public art trail, which launched Friday, August 7, 2026, and runs through Saturday, October 31, 2026, downtown.
How to visit before it closes: The Portland Aquarium is at 603 SW Broadway. Hours run through Sunday, October 4, 2026, with doors closing at 7 p.m. that final day.
Upcoming community events:
- Wildwood: Follow the Crows — 30 artist-painted crow sculptures throughout downtown Portland, through Saturday, October 31, 2026
- Portland Aquarium final day — Sunday, October 4, 2026, 603 SW Broadway, closes at 7 p.m.
