Growing up when I did it always seemed a waste that we would go to such trouble to design a costume for Halloween to have it be over just a few hours after you put the costume on and headed out the door.
More than 20 years ago, John Ball Zoo figured out that kids and families enjoyed extending the fun of this season and created its wildly popular Zoo Goes Boo – a dress up event at the zoo.
Over the course of the event kids are free to roam about in trick or treat celebration with a zoo’s touch with an emphasis on goofy and not spooky.
The favorite activities are returning like the straw maze, interactive games, and crafts but this year they are adding a few new features including entertainers ranging from mermaid, dancers, musicians, pumpkin carvers, magicians, drummers and even the clowns will all be performing about the Zoo. Attendees also get a chance to see the animals and hear stories from trainers and zookeepers about their lives at this popular west side neighborhood’s recreational center.
“Zoo Goes Boo is always been a fun way to bring people to the Zoo for safe trick or treating, entertainment, animals, and maybe even a little education,” says John Ball Zoo Society’s Executive Director Brenda Stringer, “It gets the whole family outside enjoying the zoo and nature together. It’s evolved over the years as the audience wanted more entertainment or more activities and we’ve tried to renew the event and keep it fresh. I think it’s a classic community party.”
Indeed it is so popular that this year the Zoo Goes Boo event is expanding to six days to accommodate the more than 20,000-25,000 people and kids who will don costumes and parade around the zoo. Zoo Goes Boo is so much fun and lively that it will be tough to decide who exactly is watching whom over these next few weeks as some truly amazing costumes appear on the scene.
Admission: $7 non-member, $3 Members. Save a dollar by stopping by Meijer stores for a coupon.
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