Racine Zoo - "Boo at the Zoo"

A break from baseball this morning to talk about Boo at the Zoo. You can bring your little ghosts and goblins to the Racine Zoo tomorrow for trick-or-treating and early Halloween fun with the animals. For more on Saturday's big event, we're joined now live by Beth Heidorn, the executive director. Good morning. Good morning, Bria. How are you? Good. It's always good to see you, Beth. Let's get right into it. We want to know what people can expect from tomorrow's event. We are very excited for tomorrow. So first of all, thank Rob for this wonderful weather forecast. we open at 10 o'clock in the morning we close at 4 it is going to be trick-or-treating everywhere at the zoo so we have six knock-knock doors where kids can go up and a wonderful volunteer will give them candy we have over 30 business booths that are also going to be doing like a trunk or treat so kids will get more candy or stickers or pencils from them we have cookie decorating we have pumpkin decorating we also have our amazing Racine Zoo animals which is super awesome, and we have our new baby, Hartman's Mountain Zebra, where people will be able to see that too. So 70 degrees on Saturday is going to be phenomenal. There'll be food, there'll be beverages, we have a big playground. People will get to see everything that we have here for our nighttime events and then see that during the day, so it's kind of almost like artwork. So it is going to be a fun-filled day. You guys always have so much that you guys have planned for our families here. What time should people head out tomorrow? Yeah, so our gates open at 10 o'clock. So we usually will start to get a crowd somewhere between 930 and 945. People like to kind of come in on that first initial activity. And what I really like about it is people, we want people to dress up. I like it when the families all have a theme and everyone, whether they're the baby in the stroller or the grandparents, everyone's dressed up according to the theme that the family has chosen. So we really look forward to that. Oh, and we also have bounce houses too. So you can't beat it. They're going to be bouncing all over the place. Okay, Beth, you have combined the best of both worlds. You've got the pumpkins behind you. You've got your brewer's gear on. I know you're probably going to see maybe some little misses running around the zoo tomorrow morning. I am betting on it. All right, thanks, Beth. We'll be right back with more Wake Up. From cookie decorating to pumpkin painting, there are plenty of activities planned for the Racine Zoo's spooky festivities that you and your family may want to take part in. Beth Heidorn from Racine Zoo joins us live. Excuse me. Hey, my friend. Good morning to you. Happy game day as well. I see you rocking your T-shirt, your swag, and supporting the crew. Yeah. Talk to me about some of the different components at Boo at the Zoo that we can expect to see. Yeah. Good morning, Donovan. So right now we're sitting in front of our singing pumpkins because who doesn't like singing pumpkins when it comes to Boo at the Zoo? So they're doing their little thing this morning. we thought we'd treat you to that. So what's really exciting about Boo at the Zoo is we are gonna have, what I love is the families are gonna be all dressed up in themes. You're gonna be able to see everything that we do for our nighttime event during the day, so it's gonna look like artwork for you, so that fills that space up. We've got over 30 business booths that are gonna be coming, handing out candy, treats to the children, which is gonna be great. We have six knock-knock doors that are scattered throughout the entire zoo you'll get a map and then you'll have to go find them knock on the door and a wonderful volunteer is going to hand the children candy which is going to be great then you're going to go up to our pavilion area for cookie decorating pumpkin decorating there's crafts the kids are going to get to make a ghost craft tomorrow and then that's going to be super fun we've got bounce houses up there and two of our business booths we've got pirates and guardians of the children they're kind of our anchor folks that are doing the businesses. They have supported our zoo for years and they always are a great treat for the kids and the kids get to take a picture with the pirates and on the people's motorcycles and it's just a great day for camaraderie and a good time right here on Lake Michigan. I love that. Okay so I gotta ask are you guys doing anything particularly special because of the World Series? Well our animals have some fun enrichment so we've got you know those little mini um brewers hats that somebody probably got ice cream in the back in the day so some of our animals our penguins in particular thought that was a really cool enrichment item so that's what we're doing for the animals because they want to get in they want to get in the spirit as well they can't wear clothes like i can but they can have some uh blue and and uh yellow enrichment items i love it everyone's supporting the crew beth thank you so much great to see you and again happy game day. Folks, more Wake Up continues after the break. Welcome back to Wake Up. As Racine Zoo gets ready for their annual Boo at the Zoo event, they're also prepping for fun educational programs. Joining us live now, we have education specialist Sam Wodick joining us now live. You have a special little someone with you right now. Yes, this is Phoenix. Phoenix is a corn snake. She kind of has that Halloween festive color with her, so she's that bright orange. Yeah, I got Phoenix with me here. Okay, what are you going to be teaching folks tomorrow at Boo at the Zoo? So at Boo at the Zoo, we're going to have a lot of different themed events. We also have all of the different areas of the zoo open. Right now, we're in the Discovery Center. this is where phoenix lives so she is a public animal so she will be able to be seen at boo at the zoo uh tomorrow and i know obviously i'm looking at her right now beautiful to me maybe a little spooky but a part of this is making sure that the kids understand maybe the animals that are quote unquote misunderstood perhaps yeah yeah we have a lot of opportunities for folks to meet animals like phoenix get experiences with them that they might not have the opportunity to otherwise learn that they're maybe not as scary we have a lot of educational opportunities we have a camp coming up next week on a day that the racine school districts are out of school and it's all about animals just like phoenix our snakes we have a few bugs like cockroaches and just like learning about them knowing that they're actually really important for the ecosystem and super super super interesting and cool and unique so that tongue thing is she hungry right now or what does that mean oh my gosh of course okay i'm not there but for some reason that is what what most snakes do to smell oh she's smiling so whereas our yes whereas most of our smelling stuff is in our nose, theirs are in their mouths. So instead of sniffing in, she pulls her tongue out and then pulls the air in with her tongue. And the reason that snakes' tongues are forked is because they're able to smell in two different directions. So they can smell if something's on their left tongue, they can know that that smell is to the left of them. Whereas we can only smell yes or no they can smell left or right okay all right i just learned a whole bunch i i don't know if my smile if i did like a little tongue smile okay no i'm not gonna do it but go to boo at the zoo at Racine Racine County Zoo that is tomorrow morning go check it out and have a fabulous time you're gonna see her there she's gonna be smiling at you and don't be as scared as i am in the studio right now we'll be right back while Racine Zoo gets ready for their annual boo at the zoo event they will also be incorporating a classic spooky season tradition. Beth Heidorn from Racine Zoo joins us live to unpack all things at that area for this event. Okay, so Beth, what are we talking... So Beth, okay, I'm sorry about that. We're talking about the Jack-O-Lantern Nights. What does this entail? Yeah, so Jack-O-Lantern Nights is every Thursday through Sunday from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. through Saturday, October 31st. It is a nighttime, spectacular, lighted activity on about a three-quarter of a mile walk around the zoo. We're right here at our big pumpkin wall. We have pumpkins everywhere. It just glows. What I really like about this is it just automatically will glow at night. It's an easy pathway. We've got games for kids. It's an easy walk, and you get to enjoy lighted pumpkins everywhere. from pumpkin walls to a pumpkin field to sea life to activities to our big pumpkin wall to our dinosaur photo op to our train you name it and it just glows here and people have been blown away this year i'm just i just think it's how we set everything up this year to really make it much more spectacular than they've ever seen before it looks incredible granted it looks pretty enchanting with the fog in the background too kind of adding to the spookiness of the display Beth. Okay, so folks looking at this saying, I want to take my kiddos to this. Ticket prices, admission prices, how are things looking with that? Yes, absolutely. So it is $10 for age 3 and older, and 2 and younger is always free here at the Racine Zoo. So it's an easy price point. We have food and beverages. We've got games for kids. It's a nice, easy walk. What I really like last night, people were walking around and they came on from two different angles and they're like, oh my gosh, I didn't know you were here. So it's like a big community event. They're all hanging out and not realizing they're all coming to the zoo at the same time. So it's a great activity, great community event. It's a really huge way to support the zoo because all the money that we raise goes right back into the zoo. We reinvest in ourselves to help take care of the animals, feed them, our vet care, and everything like that. Oh, Beth, it's so good to see you as always that event sounds wonderful and it looks incredible behind you thanks so much for previewing that and have a wonderful uh happy game one of the World Series today my friend with Halloween around the corner the Racine Zoo is planning their annual spooky event as well as educational programs to fit the festivities Sam Blodgett joins us live once again from the Racine Zoo with all we need to know about Boo at the Zoo good morning oh who's our friend there? Morning. This is Jabba. Oh, there you go, buddy. This is Jabba. He is a Colorado river toad. He is adorable. Yes. Let me just try and move around. Yep. So this is Jabba. He is in this crate for a reason. He's got what are called bufo toxins. Bufo, that's an older word used to describe frogs and toads. And then toxins, of course, he has poisonous skin. So that's why whenever we handle him, we have him in this crate as well as with gloves and stuff like that. Okay, well, that's kind of spooky there. A lot of people think that frogs can give them warts or that they have warts. Yeah, of course. A lot of people think that they have warts themselves, but those white things on the sides of them, they're not warts. Those are actually where they produce those toxins from. Ah, okay. So for those who are excited for Boo at the Zoo tomorrow, fill them in. What all do they need to know? What can they expect? You and your team, you guys have planned something really spectacular. Yeah, so we've got a lot of different activities. The zoo is open as normal, so it is a typical zoo day as well. We have some pumpkin decorating. we have cookie decorating we have a couple crafts and things like that as well so there's a lot of different fun activities at the zoo as well as just a normal typical fun day at the zoo as well typical fun day at the zoo what time do people need to be there because they're going to want to come out especially before game one yes i believe the zoo opens around uh 10 o'clock uh same normal zoo hours and and we close around the same time as well so typical zoo hours so who are Who are our friends we're looking at over there? I know we got our eyes on Jabba, who are those? So those are two cape porcupines. Those are two cape porcupines, that is Bristle and Nettle. They are a father and son pair. They are typically nocturnal, but they like to wake up early in the morning for their meals. So they're eating their morning meal today. OK, what does their diet consist of? I'm trying to make out. Are those kind of like carrots over there? So mainly their diet is produce. So they're going to eat veggies, fruits, but they also have some grain pellets as well. So they're kind of like closer to dog food, but it's a packed grain for them. Ah, thank you. They've got a wide variety of things that they like to eat. Final look at Java there as well. There's so much you guys can expect at Boo at the Zoo at the Racine County Zoo. It's happening tomorrow. Go see them before you then head home or head to the ballpark for Game 1 of the World Series. Well, Halloween is coming early in Racine. Boo at the Zoo is back and ready to welcome trick-or-treaters tomorrow. Racine Zoo Executive Director Ben Heider joins us live once again Ben, fill us in what do we need to know about Boo at the Zoo yeah so Boo at the Zoo is uh Saturday tomorrow from 10 until 4 we welcome everybody out here wearing costumes most people want to do that we have knock knock doors which is our version of trick-or-treating oh we have six of those scattered throughout the zoo we have over 30 business booths that are also going to be handing out candy or stickers or some swag for the children we have cookie decorating pumpkin decorating we also have crafts for the kids bounce houses and our amazing animals such as our two our two lions they are saying good morning bria um they are here ready to go and and and welcome all of our guests here tomorrow so we're because rob is being so nice about that 70 degree temperature tomorrow. We're anticipating about 4,000 people on property enjoying Boo at the Zoo. Oh, Beth, that's a whole lot of people, but I know you guys have a whole lot of plans for this. Look at them there. They're giving us a very warm welcome here. Maybe they're saying, go Brewers, go, perhaps? I hear it there. They're saying, go. Okay, Beth, I have to imagine, you got your Brew Crew swag on. I have to imagine that there's going to be a little bit of something brewers related there absolutely absolutely in fact they even have a blue bin that they were just playing around with so our animals are going to have some uh enrichment uh coming tomorrow or tonight and tomorrow in honor of the brewers games so we'll have things within the animal exhibit enclosures where the animals can manipulate something to get food out but it will be all brewers related because we are big big fans of Brewers and we want them to go yes and win Okay, and a big part of this, people who are watching, they're going to want to know what time this is happening and how much are the tickets. Yeah, so Boo at the Zoo opens at 10 o'clock tomorrow. Adults is $11. Senior citizens, 62 and older, is $10. Kids between 3 and 15 is $9. And 2 and younger is always free here at the zoo. And everything that's happening with Boo at the Zoo is part of your admission price tomorrow. And, of course, members, you just get in at your member rate, which is free because you're already a member of the zoo. So it's going to be a lot of activity happening here. We're very, very excited to have some wonderful weather and welcome everybody for Boo at the Zoo. And then if you can only come at night, come back for Jack-O-Lantern Nights, which opens at 6 o'clock tomorrow night. That's $10 for age 3 and older, and 2 and younger is always free. All right, Matthew, so the Boo at the Zoo is happening tomorrow at the Racine County Zoo. Go check it out. Find our lion friends there. Go, Brewers, go!