Steve Featherstone | sfeatherstone@syracuse.com Located in the center of the Colonnade next to the Dairy Building, The New York State Department of Conservation aquarium is an oasis of calm and tranquility amid the hustle and hubbub of the NYS Fair. Frazzled fairgoers seeking a vibe reset appreciate the aquarium’s dimly lit interior, the lack of blaring music, and of course, the massive wall of crystal clear, bubbling tanks brimming with New York’s freshwater critters.
There’s a few frogs and turtles in the tank on one end, but otherwise it’s all fish, including some species that many anglers may have never seen before. (When’s the last time you reeled in a redhorse?) So next time you stroll through the aquarium to snap a selfie with a sunfish, ask yourself: Where did that sunfish—or sturgeon, or pickerel, or bowfin—come from? “ Some people think they’re out there all year round, but they’re not,” said Bill Evans, manager of the DEC’s Oneida Fish Hatchery in Constantia and the man responsible for stocking the aquarium. “They’re only there for the duration of the Fair.
” Evans gave Syracuse.com a backstage pass to see how he gets the aquarium shipshape for the Fair. If there’s one thing we learned from the experience, it’s that beauty sells, even below the surface.
Bill Evans inspects every fish in each tank on the morning of the first day of the Fair, making sure only the best specimens are on display. Steve Featherstone | sfeatherstone@syracu.