Pleasant weather and a myriad of hands-on activities drew more than 2,000 children and adults to Marine Science Day, the annual open house at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science which was held Saturday on the school’s Gloucester Point campus.

"It was a busy day, "said David Malmquist, director of communications at VIMS. "This was the 10th year and we’ve been incredibly lucky with the weather," he said. VIMS officials were well prepared to hold the event rain or shine, Malmquist said as a number of exhibits were indoors and tents were erected to shade some of the outside displays.

Each year VIMS features a different animal, and this year’s choice was the flounder. Children learned about that fish with flounder-based crafts and activities in the children’s pavilion, including the ancient Japanese fish-printing art of "Gyotaku." Also, they could make a "Flounder Frisbee" and a "Flounder Flipbook."

The e...