With different fun and entertainment each weekend in October, the North Carolina Zoo will offer something for everyone throughout the month during ZooFEST 2009.
The week-end galas will celebrate the exotic, the endangered and the mysterious, with events ranging from Native American culture to Halloween costumes and games.
Activities kick off Oct. 3 with Native American art, dance and music. Colorful displays of various Native American cultures will fill both the North America Plaza and Junction Plaza from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m.
Also featured in the North America Plaza will be fancy dancing, singing on the hand drum, storytelling and corn-doll making.
Junction Plaza, in the center of the park, will feature a Pow Wow with demonstrations of traditional, jingle, grass and fancy dancing, and a presentation of hoop dancing.
Also at the Plaza, a drum group will perform, and Native American art will be on display.
We’ll switch continents Oct. 10, for African culture and heritage, with more art, dance, music and story-telling.
The Healing Force will perform music and storytelling in the Africa entrance plaza at 10 a.m. and noon.
Sugarfoote Productions will perform African drums and dancing at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., also in the Africa plaza, and storyteller Fred Motley will spin yarns from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. at the Watani Grasslands Reserve.
ZooFEST continues Oct. 17, with HOWL-O-Ween activities from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. in the North America and Junction plazas.
The festivities will celebrate and conclude Wolf Awareness Week, with red-wolf information stations, games, face painting, wolf stamps and wolf crafts.
Wolf information stations will be set up from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. in the North America Plaza, and hands-on information will be available at the red-wolf exhibit. Keepers will be available to talk to guests at the exhibit at 1:30 p.m.
Throughout the week, leading up to Saturday’s finale, volunteers will be at the red-wolf exhibit from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. each day to talk to visitors, answer questions and to discuss and display bio facts, including skulls, footprint casts and a wolf pelt.
The month-long ZooFEST will conclude Oct. 24 and Oct. 25, when little ghosts, goblins and all manner of creepy creatures will again haunt the zoo’s pathways when the park’s most popular special event, “Boo at the Zoo,” returns.
Now in its 20th year, “Boo at the Zoo” is a safe, daytime alternative to nighttime trick-or-treating that features games, face painting and treats along with music, magicians, storytellers and other unique entertainment. Costume contests for the kids are also a highlight of the event.
Among the entertainers on the schedule are veteran storyteller Fred Motley, steel drummer Tracy Thornton, Chaz the Magician and the highly popular “Kazoobie Show” presented by Rick Hubbard.
The “Kazoobie Show” features music, comedy and audience participation in a one-of-a-kind performance for the entire family. Times and locations for their performances will be posted on information boards at the zoo’s two entrances.
All visitors are encouraged to wear their Halloween best for costume contests for children through age 12 set for 2 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday in the Junction Plaza.
Prizes will be awarded in three age categories for best costumes: infant through age 4, ages 5-7 and ages 8-12. Costume-parade registration begins at 1 p.m. both days.
All the weekend fun takes place during regular zoo hours of 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. and is included in the regular zoo admission of $10 for adults, $8 for seniors (62+) and $6 for children (ages 2-12).
Tom Gillespie lives in Trinity and is a journalist and public affairs specialist at the North Carolina Zoo. For more information on the zoo’s plant and animal collections, special events and education programs, go to their Web site at www.nczoo.org
