One of Newport’s classic tourist attractions is closing its doors for good this summer.

Mariner Square, which owns Undersea Gardens at Newport’s Historic Bayfront, announced on its Facebook page Sunday that it will officially close the floating attraction on Sunday, Sept. 8.

The public is invited to tour Undersea Gardens for free from Sept. 3 to 8, though the dive shows will end after Monday, Sept. 2. The gift shop will remain open until Oct. 11.

Ownership said the closure aligns with upcoming renovations to Mariner Square’s other two attractions, Ripley’s Believe it or Not! and The Wax Works. The announcement did not include details about the renovations, only to say that an “entirely new” Ripley’s is in the works.

“It has been a great journey, but it is time to move on,” the Facebook post read.

Undersea Gardens opened in Newport during the summer of 1966 as a floating “people-quarium” – with the people inside and the fish outside – that allowed visitors to view sea life in a natural setting in Yaquina Bay.

The design was a copy of Pacific Undersea Gardens, which opened in Victoria, B.C. in 1963 and closed in 2013. Owners cited expensive upkeep and a change of local tastes for the closure.

Oregon’s Undersea Garden spent decades teaching tourists about ocean life, but later found competition in the Oregon Coast Aquarium, which opened across Yaquina Bay in 1992. The massive facility became a world-class attraction, and gained fame when it hosted Keiko, the orca who was featured in “Free Willy,” before he was shipped to Iceland for release into the wild.

Aside from its location near restaurants and shops at the Historic Bayfront, Undersea Gardens attracted tourists with its narrated dive shows, which showed off a variety of sea creatures including wolf eels and octopuses.

Undersea Gardens is open daily until Sept. 8, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; located at 250 S.W. Bay Blvd.; admission is free after Sept. 2.

--Jamie Hale | jhale@oregonian.com | @HaleJamesB