Open House Rocked!

Open House is somewhat like a wedding--one that you have every year! It's a year of work, planning and effort on the part of staff, interns and volunteers...and then it's over in a flash! This year's event was a great success! We estimate that approximately 3,000 people attended this year's festivities, and from the feedback we're getting, a great time was had by all.

This year's performances featured our flying ambassadors--the birds!!

As well as our "Creatures of Halloween" show, highlighting those animals usually associated with everyone's favorite Spooktacular holiday
And we closed the festivities each day with a performance by our fabulous in-house musical group, "The Raptor Project"

In between performances, guests took advantage of the once a year opportunity to have their photo taken HOLDING our magnificent Eurasian Eagle Owl - Xena!



Those of our guests who adopted Xena (on these two days only) will be receiving an 8 X 10 portait of themselves holding this gorgeous raptor.

As you can see from this photo, it's never too early to foster a love of wildlife in our children

Other guests enjoyed roaming our grounds to view the other animal exhibits, and took advantage of the rare opportunity to see the "behind the scenes" areas where we breed and train our animals.

Youngsters (and some adults) joined the festivities by having their faces painted


and meeting our Eagle mascot

Other actvities were: Sing-Alongs, Storytelling, Kid's crafts, Animal Hospital Tours, and many other activities too numerous to mention


Our thanks to all staff, interns and volunteers who helped to make this 2-day event such a great success

...and ESPECIALLY to our guests, without whom this event would not be possible.

Proceeds from Open House and other such events make it possible for us to feed, house and care for the animals in our charge, and to educate the public about environmental issues that affect us all. Mark your calendars for the third weekend of October next year and be sure to join us when we do it all over again!

This post was written and photographed by Gay Schroer.