'Shark Shack' event brings jaws to the shore at Robert Moses State Park

Amelia Osorio, 4, held an authentic mako shark skeleton jaw to her face and peered between the rows of sharp teeth.

“Be careful with the teeth,” her mother, May Cruz, said.

For children and adults alike, holding a real shark jaw presented a thrill Saturday under the blue tent at Robert Moses State Park for the pop-up event known as the Shark Shack. From authentic and replica shark teeth to fun kid activities like shark-themed coloring pages, the Shark Shack provides beachgoers a chance to learn from experts about the large fishes that can be both fascinating and terrifying.

“We love Shark Week," Cruz, of Ronkonkoma, said in reference to the annual Discovery Channel feature that begins Sunday.

The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation began hosting the Shark Shack in 2023. It continues through the summer every Thursday and Saturday between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m., weather permitting.

“Kids love this stuff, so it's really great to see that they have such a positive attitude when it comes to sharks,” said Ashley Longo, an environmental educator for the parks department.

She said sharks bring out curiosity in people.

“Obviously, Hollywood has dramatized sharks a lot, so there’s people that have a fear of them, but also like a fascination,” she said.

The goal is to educate people about sharks and also provide tips for how to stay safe in the water, she said.

One display features a monitor showing drone footage taken in recent years of shark activity in Long Island waters. Longo said it shows what lifeguards and staff members see as they search for large schools of bunker fish that are a tasty treat drawing sharks closer to the shore.

Another display features a microscope where people can see up close detail of plankton that some sharks, such as basking and whale sharks, feed on. Longo said it’s a recent addition to the shack helping to focus on sharks' diets.

Vincent Ambrosio, all of 2 years old, curiously pointed to a set of shark teeth and asked: “What’s those?”

“This one’s a megalodon tooth,” Longo explained to him as he looked at a model tooth from the extinct species. “And this one’s a real megalodon tooth. It’s a fossil.”

Vincent's mother, Courtney Ambrosio, of West Islip, said she used to love getting shark teeth when she was a kid. Now she’s passing along that enthusiasm to her children.

Shark enthusiast Gail Curran, of Floral Park, excitedly looked through the displays with her friend’s daughter, Emilia Ksiazek, 9.

Emilia, of Queens, said seeing the shark teeth was her favorite part of the pop-up.

Curran said she collects shark teeth when she’s at her second home in Florida. Sharks, she said, are “absolutely gorgeous."

“They just kind of remind me of prehistoric times,” she added.

Her husband was an avid fisherman in Long Island water and would participate in shark tournaments, she said. One time, about a decade ago, he caught a mako shark estimated at around 250 pounds.

As the struggle ensued between fisherman and shark, Curran took out her phone to document.

She said she was "so in awe" of the spectacle that she didn't push the record button. “So we all have it in our heads. It was hilarious.”