A one-hundred-dollar per person gala is scheduled tonight (Friday) in Dubuque to celebrate the grand opening of the city’s National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium. Jerry Enzler is the museum’s executive director. Enzler says there are hands-on labs, live animals and exhibits which showcase the river’s past and its future. Mark Wagner is head of education for the museum. Wagner says one of the most impressive things is the big riverboat side wheel that’s turning on the outside of the building. As people enter the building, they’ll see a backwater marsh aquarium with fish and plants that flourish in the upper portion of the river.Wagner says there’s a flooded woodland aquarium and a “wet lab” which will allow visits to touch the plants and fish. Wagner says the museum has exhibits about all parts of the river, and a natural wetland. A Native American lodge is being build on the grounds, too.