Wonders of Wildlife named best aquarium in America for the sixth time

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — For the sixth time in seven years, Wonders of Wildlife National Museum & Aquarium (WOW) in Springfield has been voted by USA Today readers as “America’s Best Aquarium.”

Wonders of Wildlife also won the USA Today Reader’s Choice Awards in 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023. WOW was also voted “America’s Best New Attraction” when the aquarium opened in 2017.

“We are honored to be recognized as America’s Best Aquarium for a record-breaking sixth time since our opening in 2017,” said Bass Pro Shops founder Johnny Morris. “We are grateful to our guests, partners, staff, and volunteers for their steadfast support. We hope the awareness generated by this recognition encourages even more people to visit Wonders of Wildlife, and to be reminded of the role that American sportsmen and women have played in conservation.”

According to a press release by Bass Pro Shops, WOW was selected by nationally respected travel experts as a top 20 aquarium for USA Today’s annual Readers’ Choice Awards. Readers throughout the United States then got a chance to vote for the winner based on the top 20.

“I would like to congratulate the fine team at Wonders of Wildlife and also thank the community for their ongoing support of this world-class attraction,” said Mayor Ken McClure. “We are very fortunate to have the country’s best aquarium right here in Springfield. We take nothing for granted. This award is richly deserved, but we also know in order to keep them and maintain them, it’s a continued effort to make (WOW) better, more instructive, more informative.”

WOW houses 35,000 animals, including live fish, amphibians, reptiles, mammals and birds, and has seen more than 6.5 million visitors since its opening in 2017.

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