It's time to chat with the animals, smell really just their mother, but I know it is here
from the Racine Zoo.
I made a mistake when I was talking to you.
I thought the rhino, your new resident was here already.
Nope.
Where's he coming?
He's well soon.
Wow.
You've got to get a rhino here and moving there in a very large crate.
Is it really?
Is it a long trip?
Several hours.
Oh really?
Several hours.
Yep.
Oh, it's comfy.
Oh, yes, it will be for them.
Yep.
But soon, that's why they were telling us that they needed to tell people theirs was leaving
and where it was going and we allowed them to use our name.
So we put ours out too.
So you'll let you know when it's here.
Plus, he's got to get therapy because he's going to a new home.
He just has to be in quarantine.
He doesn't need therapy.
Oh, really?
Every animal goes through quarantine.
What?
Now, what is that?
That's just to keep them, you know, is to make sure that they're all medically okay.
Okay.
Once they come, every animal that goes to another place was before it goes onto their
exhibit or their habitat is going to go through 30 days minimum of quarantine.
Now, when you get a rhino, is he always outside?
Does he come in?
Because in the wild, they're always outside.
Yeah, we ours have back-of-house and front-of-house, which is their exhibit.
So he can come and go as he places?
Oh, that's kind of nice.
Yeah.
Yeah.
What do you feed a rhino?
Well, they're going to eat a lot of grain.
They like vegetables and something like that.
That's expensive because I ever feel they eat a lot.
Yes.
Eating animals is not a cheap endeavor for us, but you know, we got to give them the right
nutrition.
So you don't get, you don't get like rhino chow at that.
We do not get rhino chow.
No, we do not.
But they love their veggies.
Well, that's good.
Yeah.
That's good.
We just, I think, came across about this tortoise is from the 1800s, mid 1800s, and he's
still going.
I forget what zoo he's at.
It's not in this country, though.
He's in a different country.
And you see him, he looks old and weathered, but he's still moving.
Yeah.
Big, big tortoise.
But he's over 100 years old and I don't know what zoo that is.
Yeah.
I'll look it up.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I don't know if I have it here.
I'll take a look.
Oh, we got it.
There were scene zoo.
We were looking at a picture a little while ago from 1960, zoo's still there.
Zoo's still there.
103 years old.
Is that really true?
We are.
Yep.
Just turned 103 in February.
Oh.
So you were three years old when we started this station because in December 6th, we turned
100 years old.
Awesome.
A lot of old stuff going on in this city.
You and I both.
Sometimes I feel about 103 years old too when I wake up in the morning.
You know it.
Now we looked at the picture.
The zoo looks basically the same.
If there's new buildings, the castle is still there in the picture from 1960.
The castle is still there.
I think 36, yeah.
With a big smokestack.
I don't know what that is.
So I'll have to look that up because we don't have any pictures with a smokestack on
it.
Yeah, that's really interesting.
Yeah.
Anyway, so super cool.
Let's talk about what things going on at this zoo.
There's always something going on.
Absolutely.
Our first event takes place in May, May 10th.
It's celebrating mom.
Mother's Day.
Mother's Day brunch.
This is such a good event.
We already have several, several people that have already booked their reservations.
What I really like about this one is, you know, you've got the multi-generational families
coming out to celebrate grandma, mom, great grandma and brand new moms and all the grandkids
and the kids.
And it's just super fun.
So we've been getting lots of those reservations lately, you know, a group of seven or nine
because they're bringing everybody there.
It's from 11 to 12 30 on Sunday, the 10th, I'll be up in our pavilion area.
Ivan Hose is doing our wonderful brunch, which they've done the last several years.
There's going to be crafts for the kids to make for their moms that they can then give
them right away.
And then, of course, the moms are going to get some prizes and presents and they get a
little gift bag when they walk in and they'll get a flower.
Flowers, flowers always is so generous and helping us secure some really super cool roses.
So the moms get those and a gift bag and then there's little prizes and ruffle things
that moms get too.
There's unlimited mom moses and help the moms out and it's just a super fun day of love.
Again, 11 to 12 30, you can stay at the zoo then when you're done and we also all the
families get a photo taken and then we email it to them.
Is this just a regular zoo admission or is it extraordinary?
No, it's extra to have the brunch, but coming to the zoo on mom's day, don't worry about
that.
Just come on in.
So what about, how do you get, how do you get the brunch?
Yeah.
So you go to recinesoo.org and in that top bar, there's an event tab, go to the events
and do the drop down and the drop down goes to Mother's Day brunch and then you can order
your tickets right then as many adults as you need, kids as you need and then two and
younger is always free, even if they're coming to brunch.
They're just going to snap out of the parents to ask this question, do you have anything
going on for Father's Day?
We do not have them that we know what we used to, but all the fathers, it was not as well
attended as moms.
So sometimes you got to make that hard decision, we'll have, you know, fathers will get
in free to the zoo, but there won't be an event that you're going to the zoo on that
day.
We do a story once on the phone company and they listed the busiest days for phone calls.
Mother's Day was number one.
Then you got Christmas holiday, keep going, keep going, keep going, keep, like 13th was
Father's Day.
That was so depressing.
I always see that.
I always called my dad when he was around.
Yeah, me too.
Yeah.
Of course.
I know what it was like.
Oh shit.
But mom deserves it.
Mom put up with everything.
True statement.
I love my mom.
And so that, you know, I agree.
So that's Mother's Day.
That's May 10th.
11 to 12th.
They're coming up in a few weeks.
It is.
Wow.
We are not that far from May 11 AM to 12 30.
Yep.
Sounds like a tasty brunch.
All right.
Then a few days later, it's Bloody Mary Fest Saturday, May 60.
I don't like the way at the sound of that.
What is that?
It's 11 to 2.
So we will have competitors.
This is one of our competition events.
So there will be people making Bloody Mary's.
And then we also have some Bloody Mary mix.
And those people will be making Bloody Mary's as well.
And it's just you're tasting them
and you're voting on what is your favorite Bloody Mary?
You're not guzzling them.
You're tasting them.
You're tasting them.
I mean, I can't confirm nor deny how people drink
their own Bloody Mary's.
That's on them.
That's not on me.
And then, of course, you get some beer
backs because that's what we do in the Midwest here.
And it's just fun because you get a taste.
And we have people.
We've got a VIP tense.
We've already got one of those booked.
And they book it every year.
We always ask when people are booking an event.
How'd you hear about us?
Blah blah blah.
And most of the people are like, I love this event.
I have come to this since you started it.
So it is just a really super great group of people.
And we get to see people that, again, once we get to high
season, we can see people that we haven't seen since last
summer.
You're lucky.
You have the grounds for this.
A lot of zoos don't.
You have the grounds.
It's under.
It's right near the.
It'll be up by our pavilion up by the land of the giants.
Yeah.
And then north of the pavilion will have a big tent.
Well, you also have that big area there by the amphitheater,
whatever.
The big grass base.
Yeah.
But if you go up the hill, you also have that area there.
Yeah.
There's another grass base across the high what we call high road.
But this will be in the pavilion and north of the pavilion.
It's more of our event space is up that way.
Well, that's great.
Yeah.
So we've already got a great group of people already signed up
for that one to promote early sell off
and is what we got to do, and also to keep feeding the animals.
So that's a really fun one.
And buddies is our, the vodka that we're using this year.
So we've got, you name it.
We've got competitors still coming in.
We could use a couple more, but it's just fun.
It's a nice day.
And then buckets is a second round is doing the food that day.
We always partner with a food person, like Ivan Holtz
from Mother's Day, and then buckets will be doing the food
for a bloody marry fast.
So, yeah.
That's super.
Every caterer has their right niche for us.
So we're great.
A little background on you.
We, I think we've talked to a Beth Hydorn
about her background before.
She's executive director.
They're seeing zoo, but we from originally.
Minnesota.
Oh, not that far away.
I was at the Minnesota Zoo for just shy of 15 years.
Como Zoo, the Minnesota Zoo, and then I moved to California.
I can walk it from there.
That's not that far away.
California.
I did.
Yeah.
I was at San Diego Zoo global.
I was up at the Safari Park, but what brought me out there
was the aquarium of the Pacific and Long Beach, California.
I was their seventh employee with a big dirt hole in the ground
and had to help build that.
It's beautiful.
It was a wonderful experience.
How long is this the only job you've ever had working
with the zoo?
Working at zoos in a cram job 43 years.
Yeah, like me.
It's the only job I've worked in a radio 54 years.
I've never had another job where I mean, people said, well, didn't you have to work
in a store?
No, I never worked at a fast.
I never, I never did that stuff before I got into.
Oh, I never worked at high school and, and you're out of the high school right into
radio.
After college.
Yeah.
Well, good for you.
Yes.
Thank you.
I love my job.
And you are lucky.
You got your dream job.
I did.
And when we said, I grew up in a zoo I should work in one.
So there we go.
I'm fulfilling her.
My mother used to call my house, the Collier Brothers house, because they were the, when
they, they lived in Manhattan and when they died, they had to take the roof off their
apartment building because they couldn't find them.
There was so much stuff in their little hoarders.
Oh, my gosh.
And they died amongst all the stuff and they couldn't find their bodies and they had to
keep taking tons of stuff away.
So my mother used to say, yeah, room looks like the Collier Brothers room.
Oh, my goodness.
You know, sipsing safari with that.
That is a, it's basically a sing along brunch.
And it is our first one is May 30th, our second one is August 15th.
We are partnering with Bucket Second Round on this one as well.
It is from 10 to 130 at the zoo.
It's going to be up in our event area.
So the pavilion in the north of the pavilion, we've got an amazing DJ, a great MC and it's
just to get people up and moving, singing songs, hanging out.
There's probably a lot more women than men that show up at this kind of an event.
But we take all kinds.
So it's going to be super fun.
It's just a high energy day, a great way to start your weekend again from 10 to 130
on a Saturday, May 30th.
So come on out.
It's kind of kicking off for summer.
It's right after Memorial Day.
This is when we're in high season.
It's great opportunity to hang out at the zoo.
It comes with a fabulous brunch and you get to hang out at the zoo when you're done
as well.
So you can just hang out and see your fabulous animals after you're done singing and dancing
the morning away.
And you don't know who you'll meet there.
You never know who you're going to meet there.
I'm talking about humans.
What?
There are humans.
You're going to meet a whole bunch of humans.
There's going to be a couple hundred people at this event.
So get your ticket soon.
It's going to be super, super, super fun and the brunch is included in your ticket
price along with admission to the zoo.
Even for rhinos, golf outing, wow.
And you're going to have that new resident not too far from now.
Not too far from now.
Yeah.
It is our annual golf tournament that we started in 2020.
It is out at Meadowbrook.
It is a nine hole scramble and we tee off at two o'clock in the afternoon and we get our
goal is to fill up with 144 golfers so that we can have two at every hole that's tee
and off.
So we're getting there.
It's going to be great.
Amazing sponsors that are going to be happening.
What's really nice about this one and what most of our golfers tell us is that they can
work basically a full day.
Come on out golf and they're still home by seven o'clock at night after a fabulous dinner.
So it's come out.
It's a great way to support the zoo.
Who doesn't like to golf?
Got a ton of golfers around here.
So let's use them around for rhinos is what we need.
Get your foursome.
We still have a couple sponsor opportunities.
You can always be a whole sponsor.
It's unlimited, but we do have a couple of other sponsors.
If you're interested, you can reach out to me or send an email to info at recinesoo.org
and we'll make sure we take care of you.
But get your foursome booked.
It's fun afternoon.
It's Monday, June 22nd, Monday, June 22nd, tee off at two o'clock at Meadowbrook Country
Club.
Do you ever play golf?
I do.
I like playing golf.
I play in a lot of tournaments around here.
I got to support everyone else's nonprofits.
They support me so I go support them.
Only golf ever played with miniature golf and putt putt golf.
There you go.
That's okay.
I don't know how you guys hold that.
It's a strange way to hold the club.
It's not like a baseball bat.
You do not hold it like a baseball bat.
That is true.
I've never played golf before.
Never had a bloody marry either.
Wow.
I'm living a sheltered life.
Okay, quit reveal.
Let's review the events we talked about.
Okay, we got mom's day, mother's day brunch on Sunday, May 10th from 11 to 1230.
We have the bloody marry fast on the 16th, which is a Saturday from 11 to 2.
That's up in our pavilion area.
Then we have Sipsing and Safari and that is on Saturday, May 30th.
That is from 10 to 130.
Then we have our round for rhinos, our annual golf tournament, which is on Monday, June
22nd at Meadowbrook Country Club, T off time at 2 o'clock.
It is a nine hole scramble.
We did that by not looking at anything, which I found amazing, because I even have to
have local news and timeless hits written in front of me or I can't remember it.
Good for you.
I try to memorize everything that's going on at the zoo.
Wow.
I do my best.
Those are your people over there.
Those are your children.
They are my children.
That is true.
And when they get the rhino comes, you'll give us a call.
I promise.
We'll talk about the rhino.
We'll talk about it.
We'll talk about it.
Are you boo?
Say that again.
Are you boo?
Are you boo's his name?
We can do better than that.
I'll send you the spelling and the phonetic spelling for you too.
Thank you, Beth.
You're welcome.
Beth Heidor, an executive director of our Racine Zoo.
Not many cities.
The size of Racine have a jewel like the Racine Zoo.
They have to usually go to big cities.
Milwaukee's got one.
New York City's got one.
I mean, Elde San Diego's got Racine Wisconsin's got one of the best.
And accredited.
You got it.
I love that.
Thank you.
Beth Heidoran from the Racine Zoo Executive Director.
Well, when the rhino comes, we'll talk to Beth again.
Would for months?
Huge.
No, no, gosh, no.
Okay, here soon.
Okay, okay.
Do you have like a motorcade?
Well, there's there's ways that we just don't tell people when it's going to come.
This is like the Andy Griffiths here when the secret armoured car had to go through
Mayberry.
And Barney told that.
And Barney told everybody.
Did they have a, did they have flags waving tape on the secret armoured car?
Is Barney going to give his mouth shut?