It's time to talk about high-dorn executive director of the Racine Zoo, keeping taken
care of the animals at the zoo.
And I keep saying this for people that don't realize people say, I've got a zoo that's
nice.
You'd be surprised how many cities would love to have a zoo and they can't have them.
And Racine is not a huge city to have one, usually you find them in places like Milwaukee,
New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Diego, it's got a very famous one, very fortunate
to have one because we're not that giant-sized city, we're like the fifth largest city in Wisconsin
and we have one.
That is correct and an accredited one to boot.
Now, what does that mean?
So accreditation is with the Association of Zoo's and Aquariums, there's rigorous standards
for animal care, vet care, your memberships, how you do donations, your sponsorships,
everything from cleaning to grounds and there's every five years, every zoo and aquarium that's
accredited, goes through reaccreditation and inspectors come out, take a look all the
way around your stuff and then when you become reaccredited, you're at that gold standard
of care at a zoo or aquarium.
So of the places that hold animals, right now there are 241 accredited zoos and aquariums
and we are one of those, so pretty super cool.
It's sort of like having an FCC inspection and when the federal communication commission
comes in, surprise, we're here, I had to give two tours to the FCC commissioners years
ago, they're not very friendly, they come in with a clipboard, show me where this is,
okay, where's this?
ours are friendlier inspectors than that, but yes, they do have a clipboard, they got
it all the rules, I see, and oh, and then you wait for the fines, we never got them,
yes, but it's just, you know, we always pass, but they come in, because they get like
20 radio stations to do and they want to, you know, with the tedious job and I just show
where it is, I don't offer any information, I just show them, thank you very much and
they move on.
Okay, let's talk about our zoo, we've got now admission for the zoo, let's talk about
the hours and then we'll talk about the special events.
So we're currently open from 10 in the morning until five, last admission is at 430, it
is $11 for adults, $10 for seniors, children is $9, ages 3 to 15 and age 2 and younger is
always free at the zoo.
You know, and we have to have it like an alarm clock for the animals, they're right,
they're coming in, everybody wake up, wake up.
Well, my staff gets their sound in the morning, they're wide away by the time we open at
10 o'clock, yes.
And it is a fun day.
Now, if you do what I did, my wife, for Christmas, got us the membership, not to see the
animals to walk and get some exercise.
We have a lot of people that get membership just to walk or just to come in and play
on our playground.
Nice to make fun of the mall walkers, remember the old people used to come into the mall
and just walk.
Now I'm one of them except there's no mall anymore.
You just do it outside.
Got to do it.
I love it.
Okay.
Now, in addition to the regular zoo activities, you guys have a lot of special events coming
up.
And let's start with Sunday, August 7th.
Is that this Sunday?
Yes, it is.
It's August 17th.
It's August 14th today.
My goodness.
All right.
August 17th, what do we have?
It is our 29th annual car truck and bike show.
So it's very exciting.
We'll have around 2,000 people show up on that day.
About 300 to a little bit more cars, trucks, and motorcycles will come in and people register
their vehicles.
Now you have to, you can only register on the online registration close at midnight,
this midnight just a few hours ago.
But you can still register your car the morning of.
People will line up on Michigan.
All the cars, trucks and bikes will line up on Michigan and Gould.
And then we will open those gates at 8 in the morning for the cars to come in.
They park in various spaces.
We've got parkers that are out there.
There's a great group of volunteers that come and help park all the cars.
And it's super, super fun.
And it's, I mean, there are people that have been there all 29 years, which I love.
And then there's over 75 different awards that are given out.
And we do awards at 4 o'clock in the afternoon from 4 to 4 30 is when we have the awards going
on.
And it's just a really great day.
You got people coming in and it's $5.
No matter what your age is, it's two and younger is always free.
But three and older is only $5 to get into the zoo on car show.
So you can come and see the animals, then see the cars, come for the cars, then go see
the animals.
We've got a DJ playing music down in the amphitheater and it's just a super great day.
And it's because people love to show off their cars, which I think is super fun.
And it's just, you got to come out and people again have tried and true event 29 years.
It's pretty good.
You got to come out and see them.
And so far, the weather Sunday, partly sunny with a high near 83.
I'm excited about whether that's my fingers crossed, man.
I never put a bet down.
I know.
Can I see the sunrise that morning?
I track weather by the hour every day.
That'll drive you nuts.
I have to.
There's a few of us at the zoo that do that every day by the hour.
Now, how is Main Street doing?
I know it's closed, it's open, it's closed, we're pouring concrete.
Now we're doing this, we, the mafia buried some dead bodies and then we're going to dig
them up.
Now what's now?
Yeah.
So Main Street right now is from Gould to Augusta is completed, but it still says road
closed.
You're not supposed to drive on that section.
So it's really Augusta north to Melvin that is currently all, I don't, you can't drive
on it.
So I don't know where they're, how they're doing, but it's a state project in cooperation
with the city.
So I know from Augusta up, there is still construction going on.
It's not supposed to end until I think the project is supposed to end middle of October.
I thought you'd say 2027.
No, this year at least.
Now where is parking?
So you park on the streets, so the problem is we did lose those parking between Gould
and Augusta right now, but there is the parking lot that we have over on Wisconsin, off
of Walton.
So there's that parking lot, otherwise there's parking on Gould Street and there's
parking on Michigan from south of like where my office is, which is the corner of Gould
to Michigan all the way down that way.
But they're also sharing parking with all of the people going to the beach.
And it's been beach weather for darn sure, but that's people always find a way or they're
out on the side streets or they're up on a north of the zoo on Michigan and Augusta going
north.
So people find a way to get out there.
Let's talk about summer ending the final animals crackers concert.
I always feel bad when I get a final concert of the summer.
I know.
All right, let's talk about animal crackers.
It makes me a little sad to have that last concert happening, but it is super, super
fun.
It's called special EFX All Stars and there are six different artists that will be playing
that evening.
And it's the gates open at 530.
So the usual, the concert starts at seven, goes till nine.
You have different food vendors.
So we've got Romallage, we've got Owen H. We've got the zoo for that.
We've got a full bar for people for whether they want to bottle wine or whether they want
a vodka club soda.
It doesn't matter.
Take care of everybody there.
We'll probably be about 15 to 1700 people, maybe closer to 2000 on that last concert.
And then we end with a drone show.
So after the concert is all over, about 915, the drone show will start because they play
till about nine.
I would love to know how they do that.
You look in the sky and it's, it looks fake, but it's real.
It's real.
I don't know how they do that with all those drones and sink.
I don't know.
I'm super excited because I saw the draft already.
So I'm very, very excited for the drone show.
But it's, you know, it's just a fun way to, it really is kind of that end of the summer
though for us, even though we have still tons of events that happen after the 20th, but
super, super fun tickets are selling rapidly.
That's also at the concert we sell season tickets for 2026.
So people want to come to that because there's a special, but you can only buy it at the concert,
but last concert.
So people have to come if they want to get the special and we've already got two of our
artists for 2026 and hopefully on the 20th, I'll be able to, for sure, I'll be able to
announce a third.
I can't guarantee I can announce the fourth.
But that's coming of Wednesday, August 20th, August 20th, yes, that's a less than a week
away.
Zerific Saturday, reptiles and amphibians.
Absolutely.
So this is a value added event for folks when they come in.
We have our different keepers that are, that's their specialty.
So they'll be at a booth, they'll be talking to us, the kids and the families.
There's some crafts, there's some games, there's activities that are happening and it's just
a great way for people to understand that reptiles and amphibians are not scary.
There's a lot of people that don't like snakes and so we try to put those mists aside and
the primary caregivers for those particular, oh stop, so the primary caregivers for those
particular animals will be out talking to the public and it's just a, you know, just
another value added day.
We like to have a lot of activities happening at the zoo for those that are coming in.
So once they're inside, they get a participate in all of that.
This young lady was walking down, this is years ago during the 4th of July parade, walking
down the street with this giant white snake around her neck, it was huge.
And my wife said, can I, can I hold the snake?
She put it around my wife's neck, whoa, but it was huge, right?
You know, just if she wore it around her neck, walking down the street, right?
This is hard for me to say.
I'm going to try it though.
World, we're wine or Wednesday.
Oh, you got it.
That's like Sally shells, sell shells down by the sea shores all day.
Yes.
Well, we used to have worldwide Wednesdays and then we had roaring pores.
We're out of dates because we have so much activity that happens at the zoo in the summer.
So we combine them.
So it's wine tasting and beer tasting.
It's on Wednesday, August 27th from 6 to 8.
We have all the wines and the beers that we're going to be pouring that night are listed
on our website.
So recinesoo.org, go to the top row, do the event tab, do the drop down to World War
Wine Poor Wednesday and you will find all the beer that we're serving and all the wine
that we're serving.
Red onion does the hand past appetizers that night.
So that's, they're really, really good.
They pair that food up with what we're going to be having.
And it's, it's just a nice way to have a happy hour on hump day on a Wednesday.
So it's the last one of the season.
It's kind of like another last one, it makes me so sad, but that's the last one for this
particular year.
Okay.
That's called wine.
Oh, excuse me.
World War Wine Poor Wednesday.
Wednesday.
That is correct.
And it's coming up August 27th.
That is correct.
What's the zoo debut?
Zoo debut is our annual black tie gala.
And this year it is on Saturday, September 6th.
It tends to be the Saturday after Labor Day.
And this year's theme is tropical suarez.
So I'm, I'm envisioning lots of bright colors, florals, flamingos, things like that as
my guess is what the tire will be for most of the people.
It starts at five o'clock in the afternoon and it goes until 11 o'clock at night.
The band will be brew city or cold sweat and the brew city horns.
They played last year.
They are phenomenal.
There's live auction.
There's a silent auction.
It is our largest fundraiser of the year.
It is going to be super, super fun.
The silent auction, people will be able to bid on those items even if they're not at
the event.
So we'll open that on Wednesday before the 6th.
And then people can bid on that.
We've got lots of great donors that are already giving us wonderful things for us to auction
off both in the live and the silent.
So you're going to have to keep in tune for all of those.
It's really going to be a great fundraiser for us.
We raise a lot of money.
It stays right at the zoo for our animal care, well-being, that care, everything.
I just love zoo debut.
It's going to be so fun and everyone's talking about it.
Ticket sales are still open.
Get your tickets.
Book a table.
Book just for you and a significant other or you and a friend and come on out.
It's really, I think it's just a great way for people to show how much they care about
the zoo.
And I just, I love zoo debut.
So get your tickets done.
You should come with your wife.
You know what?
I'm watching you do all this.
You don't have any notes.
Oh, you do your phones there.
I know, but I'm looking at my phone because I'm looking at it.
How is she memorizing all this?
I have papers everywhere.
I can memorize.
Steel trap here.
I have the call letters here in case I forget what they are.
Okay.
Now, I hate to say this folks, but we're going to go to October, Jack O'lanter nights.
We're talking about you.
Halloween already.
We are.
Well, we're already planning, we're setting it up in mid September.
So Jack O'lanter nights, this will be our fourth year, but we are going with a different
company for the pumpkins and the displays this year.
They're also out of the East Coast, but oh my gosh, I am super excited because we have
more themed, staged vignettes is kind of more, it's not just a pumpkin on a stick.
It's vignettes throughout the whole walking path of that.
So I'm very excited.
It's going to be a lot of work, but it's super fun.
People love it.
It's a great way to kind of have a safe Halloween activity.
We open up on Thursday, October 2nd.
It goes to Friday, October 31st.
It is from 6 to 10 pm every Thursday through Sunday.
We've already got a lot of sponsors that have signed on for this event again.
We can always take more sponsors.
We are really kind to our sponsors and give them a lot of perks for supporting the
zoo.
So it's something to do.
It's $10 for everyone age three and up to and younger as we always say is free at
the zoo.
It's a great walking path, nice and easy, and I mean, I hate to think about Halloween
already too, but we are here and it is less than a month and I'm setting up for Halloween.
So I got to start talking about it.
Two months ago, I'm talking about what we're going to give out this year for Halloween
candy.
Because, well, because I don't want to get like the three Musketeers bars because I
wind up eating them when they want to get something I don't like.
And what do you think that's going to be?
I know I like them.
Well, it just makes these little, like, little frugummy things in package and kids like
them last year.
They only want that game of choice.
I know I want to.
Well, so we're going to get that this year.
Okay, very good.
So, for years, I bought this mask, many, many, many years ago for a party at a
party.
I go to and it's a really scary mask.
And so I started bringing the candy out on my porch in the mask and one day a little
girl was so frightened.
She started backing up and she almost fell down the steps and I said, that's it.
I can't do this.
I wish you screamed.
So you can't see it on the radio, but that's the mask.
Oh, that is scary.
And she backed up and she almost fell off the bush and I had a quick take it off.
Yeah, you don't need some kid falling off your steps.
Yeah.
And so I got rid of it, but that was the mask I used for Halloween.
Okay.
I still love trick-a-treating in my neighborhood.
Remember, you used to have that you'd take a pillowcase back in my day, you'd take a pillowcase
and that was your bag.
And when I went trick-a-treating, it was from the minute you wake up to the minute nobody
would give you any more candy around 11 o'clock at night.
You did it all day.
There was no, like, you know, two hours here.
It was like all day long and I think the candy's a lot better now.
We had a guy in our block who worked for Nabisco, and he used to get all the expired cookie
boxes.
And we'd, so it's expired.
Who cares?
There are Oreo cookies.
And I remember looking in his living room when he just had cases all over the place and
were expired cookies and we used to go there a couple of times during the day because
he had cut who he was going to know.
It's the same clown outfit everybody wore.
Same hobos came to his door.
It was great.
I mean, this big mound of stuff between my brother and I in the living room, the more
my mother ran out, she started taking our candy and giving it out, but she didn't give
out those horrible little, you know, those tapies that were orange and black, the really
terrible thing.
She didn't give those out.
She gave away the three must get tears, the milky ways, the baby rules, she gave all
the good stuff away.
She says, well, you want kids to have the good stuff.
Yeah, that's why I have them.
Oh, shoot.
And you got to let me drop an apple in your bag or write through and some lady gave
out.
Here's two pennies.
I'm going to do two pennies.
And she gave away the pen.
One little give out popcorn.
She took a handful of popcorn and threw it in your bag.
Why don't you do it with that?
Not even a popcorn ball.
Just popcorn.
Not a bag.
It just took a hand.
Here's a handful for you.
You dirty hands.
It didn't wash.
It was popcorn everywhere.
Okay.
Let's talk about something else, though, that we got one, we talked about the zoo.
They're the jackalette and I just talk about the main reason people go to the zoo.
They want to see the animals.
You have that big castle, animal castle there, who housed in that?
So that was built in 1936.
So that is a very old building.
So we have our white-handed given.
We have our spider monkeys.
We have our orangutans.
We have Missy, our sloth.
We have the inside lion exhibit is in there.
We have our fusa.
We have a fusa.
What's a fusa?
It is a mammal that lives in Madagascar.
You can see it from all the movies that the kids do and it can walk down, straight down
a tree.
That's right.
It's pretty interesting.
I like the fusa.
Then Cape porcupines.
We have a parrot in there.
We've got our emperor Tamrons.
And then in the basement of that is where all of our animal ambassadors are housed.
Note the way Beth said it.
A orangutans.
Not orangutans.
There's no G at the end.
There is.
They would say, oh, it's sort of orangutans.
No, you saw orangutan.
That is correct.
That is what you saw.
That is correct.
I'm glad you corrected that.
Now, off outside the big castle, you've got the kangaroos.
I love.
Yep.
I'm still in awe.
How big those things are.
Yeah.
We just got those two new red kangaroos that are in there.
We did a press release a couple of weeks ago.
Okay.
So they're in there hanging out and they're, you know, so that's super cool.
What we had, I think people forget when they're down there that they can, the animals
can go wherever they want, but you as the guests are staying on the pathway.
And someone said, the animal just jumped across and thought that they couldn't jump across.
So we had to, you know, explain that's fine that the animal crossed your path.
You just, you stay on it.
And it's a great opportunity.
We also have our tawny frog mouth down there too.
It's the illusion of freedom.
That's what he's to say.
We have a dog that comes every Friday and she can run around the backyard, not on the
leash because I'll fenced in.
And I said, it's the illusion of freedom.
The same thing when I had parakeets that can fly around the house, the illusion of freedom.
We give them limited freedom.
Let's talk about the, okay, so we got the car trucking bike show.
Yeah, we're just Sunday.
This Sunday.
This Sunday, the 17 hours.
10.
Well, the zoo's open from 10 to 5.
The guests will come in at 10.
The car people come in at 8 and then the last time to come in is at 4.30 in the afternoon.
The guests are at 4 o'clock and the cars start to leave about 4.31 as soon as we're done
with awards because they got to get their cars back to their garages.
The final animal crackers counts are coming up Wednesday, August 20th, Zuerifix Saturday,
the reptiles in amphibians on Saturday, August 23th, then you've got, and I want to say
this right, the world, roar, wine, or Wednesdays coming up on Wednesday, August 27th.
I'm an announcer.
I can do it.
Wednesday, August 27th, you got the zoo debut, a nice black tie event.
Fundraiser coming up Saturday, September 6th, get your tickets and jackal winter nights
all start October 2nd and run right through Halloween night.
Now all this is on your website.
It is.
It is.
It is.
And at the top of the bar to get anything for the events, you're going to go to the event
tab and do the drop down, you'll see all the pick the ones you want.
You'll see the ones that are coming up even after October starts and then you can
buy your tickets.
And you say, Oh, don't I missed with Beth said at the beginning, I wish I wish I can
hear it again.
Well, you can because it'll be podcast by tomorrow morning, probably by tonight, but definitely
by tomorrow morning, just go to WRJN.com or wherever you get your podcast, it's, it's going
to be there.
Thank you so much.
Oh, thank you.
Appreciate it.
I love hearing about it.
I'm talking to the doctor.
Do a little love.
I love to talk to the they look at me funny, but I like to talk to them anyway.
Well, they appreciate you walking around the zoo when you come for it using your wonderful
memory.
I love them.
I want them.
I want to take them on with me.
Every time we walk up, I get a look, you know, I used to get a look, you know, what are
you doing here?
We live here.
What are you doing in our house?
Exactly.
All right.