Sting rays are coming to Dubuque. Today the Iowa Economic Development Authority approved a grant for the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium that'll help it expand and add new exhibits, including a "sting ray touch tank."
President and ceo, Jerry Enzler, calls the new exhibit a "Mississippi River Delta Touch Pool."
The state grant of 468,000 dollars is part of a 2.3 million dollar expansion planned for the museum and aquarium.
Enzler says another new exhibit will be the Iowa Machine Engine and Launch Works from Bellevue that closed 100 years ago - it'll be dismantled and re-created in Dubuque.
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The touch pool should open late next year (2016), followed by the machine shop in 2017.
With the state grant, he says the museum has just 340,000 dollars to raise over the next two years, to reach its goal.