Announcer: The views and opinions expressed in to the point are those of the hosted, the program and its guests.

They do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of WGTE Public Media.

Doni: Remember that song by Simon and Garfunkel?

It was released in the late sixties and the opening lyrics were something like someone told me It's all happening at the zoo.

I do believe it.

I do believe it's true.

Well, if I didn't know better, I think that they were writing about our Toledo Zoo.

Want a place to hold a great party, go to the zoo, want a great walk?

Try the grounds at the zoo.

Want to know the difference between a turtle and a tortoise?

Or attend a great concert?

You guessed it, the Toledo Zoo.

It's one of the best in the country.

And we're talking about the wonders of our very own Toledo Zoo with our guest, Jennifer Brassil, director of events.

I'm Doni Miller.

And welcome To The Point.

Connect with us on our social media pages.

You can email me at doni _miller@wgte.org or again for this episode and any others that you'd like to revisit, please don't hesitate to go to wgte.org/to that point.

I am so excited to have you with us today.

We have Jennifer Brassell, who is the Director of Communications and PR and Events at the Toledo Zoo.

And I wanted to give people an opportunity to sort of here again, let's revisit what's going on at that amazing zoo of ours, because I think it's one of those places, like so many other great things in this town, that we we know it's out there.

We know it's wonderful, but we sort of take it for granted.

So it never hurts to reactivate, revisit, revisit it, sees it.

Jennifer: So yeah, we want people to do that.

Revisit and revisit and revisit.

Doni: Yes, absolutely.

So what's great happening out there?

Well, I. Jennifer: Mean of course right now is lights before Christmas and we are on our 38th season, so we're really excited about that.

And it's such a Toledo tradition, generation after generation have been coming here.

Everybody that comes in from out of town, your family, it's just the thing to do is to come to lights before Christmas.

Doni: So you guys win an award on.

Jennifer: We were up for USA Today's Best New Lights.

We've been nominated several times.

We've won twice, but this year we came in second.

So yeah.

Doni: So we'll see.

Jennifer: Yeah, we're hoping to come in first, but.

Yep.

Yep.

So yeah, that's always an honor every year, you know, it's our horticulture team does such a wonderful job putting the lights up and every year they add new elements and change things up.

We have our Christmas in July event now, so they start even earlier and the crew just does a magnificent job.

I mean, we have our 85 foot Norway spruce.

That's like the big focal point of the lights and we always light that up.

Every year we kick things off.

We debuted a new programable lighting system that you could change colors and patterns and that changes throughout the evening and throughout the season.

So if you've seen it once, you can come back and see it again and it looks different.

It's so beautiful.

It really.

Doni: Is.

I was there last night and it is amazing and it was cold last night.

It was like, Yeah, bundle up, everybody.

But it's so worth it.

Jennifer: Yeah, it is.

I mean, like I said, you just kind of stand there and watch that tree and then, you know, kind of sneaks up to the music back there in the beautiful gardens by the conservatory.

And this year we have our new redesigned Winter Village in the historic amphitheater.

So we're really excited to debut that this season.

We've had the ice slide in there for probably about ten years and everybody loves that comes and hits that up every year.

But down there now, we have some new experiences.

We move Santa down there and he's in this like jazzed up heated tent that's beautifully decorated.

And then we've got these cute little green houses that have like a merchandise opportunity with all kinds of great zoo swag.

And then there's a cute little cocktail bar down there where you can get a drink while you wait for your kids to go down inside, you know, seasonal beverages.

And then there's a sweet shop where you can get fudge and saltwater taffy and cookies and then even s'mores kits because we've got fire pits down there as well.

So families can go down there and roast.

Doni: Their own small.

Yeah, right down there.

Jennifer: So little homey.

And we're really happy with that space.

And we hope to just continue to grow that year after year.

And it's kind of a place that people can just hang out for an hour down there now.

Doni: And so, you know, the other great thing about that, John, is that people, when they get worried about being in the cold, I mean, they need to know there are lots of places to dive into to get warm.

Jennifer: Yep.

We do have plenty of buildings open.

The aquarium is open.

We have a paramedic.

A museum of natural history is open when we move Santa out of the Arctic on the north side of the zoo.

When you come into that kind of opened up that space.

So people, when they come in, I mean, lights opens at 3:00.

So if you still want to experience a lot of animals, you can still see a lot of the animals.

And Carly can clue that went out on exhibit this spring.

They are so fun to watch in the Arctic encounters swimming around.

We have our sea lions and seals and that exhibit so you can duck in there and warm up and then we also have the reptile house, which is worth mentioning, is closing up at the end of this year.

So we are going to be doing a remodel of that building.

Yes.

They're still keeping the historic WPA integrity of that building, but it's going to be a little bit more viewer friendly kind of.

When we remodeled the aquarium back in 2015 and reopened, that just a better viewing experience and more engaging experience for our visitors.

So if you love the old historic reptile house.

Doni: Which I do.

Jennifer: Yes, you want to visit that space by December 31st because it's going to be shut down to be there for probably at least a year or so while they remodel that.

So, you know, people are going to miss that.

Doni: You know what I that people don't know?

I got I got to tell you, folks, 10,000 animals in the zoo.

Yes.

And that was house collection.

Jennifer: Yep.

And it grew.

It's growing and growing.

Yeah.

And this year we're so excited.

We have we had so many animal babies that people are excited to see.

We had, like I said, Collie included the polar bear cubs that went out and exhibit.

We had our tiger cubs that went out in September.

So people are so excited to see Ash and Amber.

The Cougars are now back next to the Tigers and those have been off exhibit for a while.

We have them back out.

So when you visit Tiger terrorists, like I said, come for lights or when you visit next year, you're going to want to hit up those exhibits and see the Cougars, see the tiger cubs.

And then, of course, our family, Kodiak Ridge.

We just opened that in March.

Our Brown Bear exhibit.

Yeah.

So we're really excited about that.

It's such a great space.

There's not two viewing areas we've gotten great feedback on there.

You can get so close up close to our Kodiak Bear and our grizzly bear.

Dodge is always fun, is kind of wading around in this little pond right there in the front and getting all kinds of cool enrichment.

People are really enjoying that exhibit.

Doni: So what I really like, I really like the exhibits where it looks as though there's no fence.

It's just Yes, you know, I really like that.

Yeah.

Jennifer: I think that's I mean, we're so proud of that new exhibit, the Kodiak Bridge, because, I mean, you were it's just glass and you're like, right up next to, you know, a giant grizzly bear.

You know, people get to experience that, like up close, like in we just love that exhibits and people are And then if you visit the other side of the exhibit we have like a little dig pit where we put sand toys in there and the kids can actually get up in that sandpit and dig around and play with the toys.

And then you've got the bears on the other side digging in their side.

So it's almost like they're playing right along with the animals.

But there's just like a piece of glass.

Doni: Yeah.

You know, and it's it's amazing because people would think, geez, I just went to the zoo like six months ago.

It's different almost every time.

Jennifer: Yes.

Something that all the time, every time someone comes and, you know, I'm kind of our behind the scenes tour options are always changing.

And you talk to people and they're like, okay, I haven't been here in years.

And it's so it's so different.

Doni: So different.

Jennifer: Come here.

You know?

So yeah, we, we do try to keep things updated and just keep, you know, ever changing and really keep up on the exhibit.

So they're not only visitor friendly, but of course that you we want it to be a great habitat for our animals as well.

So yeah.

Doni: And you know, folks also need to know that our zoo is a destination place.

I mean, people come here from Detroit all the time and we're pulling in people from all over.

Jennifer: Yes, we really are.

Yeah.

I mean, you know, they'll we hear that a lot when I'm standing out on zoo grounds, just, you know, interacting with people.

And you'll say, where are you from?

And they do say they're up from, you know, Ann Arbor, Detroit, and that and we love to come down to this zoo, you know, So we're so glad that it has become such a destination that we have so many great events.

Like I said, not only late for Christmas, we're wrapping up the year and we have our New Year's Eve event.

And this is the 16th year that we've been doing it.

It's really fun.

Family.

Yeah.

So okay, so it's started.

I've been there as long as it's been going every year.

It just kind of grows and grows.

So it's during the day.

So it's on December 31st and it starts at ten and it runs till about one as far as all the activities we have going on.

So families can come in and we've got like a little grab and go crafts for them to do.

We have an ice carving demonstration and then we do an apple juice toast where we rise a ball at noon and then we set off all this biodegradable confetti and it's just a really good time.

It's a great celebration.

The ice slide will be going.

We'll have some animal demonstrations and meet and greets going on as well.

So playing music and dancing around.

Doni: So that's a really.

Jennifer: Good time for families to spend during the day, maybe before they go out and do their own things in the evening.

And you see people, families every year that come, yeah, we got to come in New Year's Eve, you know.

So yeah, we're excited about that.

So that'll be coming up.

And then that's tickets for that.

Yes.

You go to Toledo Zoo dot org, it's free with your zoo admission.

So if you're a member you know all you have to do is make your reservation.

And that's what we're kind of doing.

We've been doing that since 2020.

We've it's just easier to control people entering and exiting reservations for lights for Christmas along with this event is last night of lights that that day too.

So if you wanted to stay, you could make a whole day of it and enjoy lights for Christmas as well.

But we put them out a week in advance so people can make the reservation.

Whether you're a member or not a member.

We prefer people to go to the website and get in the reservation time.

It just like I said, we get, you know, backed up in at the admission gates and parking and all that.

So it controls that the numbers a little bit easier.

Now once you get into the zoo, you can stay as long as you want, but we just kind of like try to stagger it out a little bit.

So but yeah, so we're looking forward to New Year's Eve.

So we hope people come out and celebrate with us on that.

Doni: Yeah, they're right.

The zoo is accessible to folks, I think, in ways that they don't always think about.

Like you can reserve space there for family gathering.

Jennifer: yes, yes.

Yeah.

Our group Sales and catering department are top notch.

I mean, I'm sure, you know, you've been to different events at the zoo and on our weddings.

I mean, people have fabulous weddings and our gardens and then we have our Malawi event center that holds, you know, hundreds of people and that beautiful big fish tank in the background.

Some of the weddings there are so fabulous.

And people have their corporate parties and picnics there.

We also, you know, a lot of the holiday parties have been happening as well.

So we're we're we just love our catered catering facilities and people really enjoy what we have to offer as far as as in the food and the cookies and our world famous hot chocolate during the holidays.

People love that as well.

So we're excited to be able to offer that to everybody to have their their parties and events in there at the zoo.

So a lot of people don't know.

We have our own catering team, Rayne.

All of our concessions are done by in-house, by our our food service staff, and they're just top notch.

Doni: Yeah.

And I would say to folks, if if you're interested in reserving space out there, you need to do it.

You need to get on with it because it fills up.

Jennifer: Yes, it does.

I sit there and my area is kind of next to that area and you hear people, you know, wanting to book birthday parties and, you know, and those dates fill up fast.

And I know.

Yes, I know.

They did like over 60 holiday parties this year.

So people really love it.

And the weddings they put on this summer into the fall, a lot of fall weddings are very popular nowadays.

And we have a harvest fest event that happens.

So that backdrop of all of our pumpkin displays and all that, that's a great time to have a wedding.

Doni: So I want to come back and talk about more of the things that we can discover at our zoo in just a moment.

But we're going to take a break and please stay with us.

Carol: Lucas County Jail today is vastly different than it was in 2014.

The individuals in the jail were not being correctly served, nor was the population of Lucas County.

When we started digging into the needs of the community and the jail population, we realized we can make the community a safer place and a more just place.

Repeat crime before trial can go down.

And in Lucas County's case, it did.

You can reduce your jail population, meaning that people have a better chance of succeeding in life.

VO: WGTE Public Media, in collaboration with the John D and Kathryn T MacArthur Safety and Justice Challenge, presents Rethinking Jobs and Justice.

A community town hall that challenges our thinking about overincarceration and how this adversely and disproportionately affects racial and ethnic minorities.

Join the discussion at the downtown Toledo Lucas County Public Library on January ten at 5:30 p.m.

Your questions and comments will be addressed at the town hall and can be sent in advance to wgte.org/rjj Doni: Hey, welcome back.

Jennifer Brassil is with us.

She's the event coordinator at the Toledo Zoo.

But before we talk to her again, I just want to remind you that you can connect with us on our social media pages.

You can email me.

You know how doni _miller@wgte.org.

And again, if there's any episode that you'd like to see or if you'd like to see this one again, just go to wgte.org/to the point.

Jen Amazing things going on at that zoo.

There's not enough time in this show to talk about everything that people can find at our Toledo Zoo, world renowned.

I want to say to you, Toledo Zoo Award winning Toledo Zoo.

But there are some things I really think that we should tell people a little bit more about.

So it's more than just seeing the 10,000 animals that are curated and cared for at the zoo.

It's much more than that.

Strong conservation efforts going on.

Jennifer: Yes, we do.

I mean, we've got local conservation, national as well as global, global conservation efforts.

If you do go to our website, you can click on the Wild Toledo page and find out in detail all of the programs and efforts that we are involved in.

One of the big ones is our Wild Toledo program.

It's all about native plants.

I mean, they, you know, they reduce runoff, they reduce upkeep, they encourage habitat, pollinators, birds.

You know, it's it's just such a great thing for our area.

And so many companies even are getting involved in it.

So, I mean, we kind of started things on the area between, you know, on the Anthony Wayne Trail, if you're driving down there.

We started kind of doing our first planting in that area and then it's just kind of grown from there.

We now have our own wild Toledo like greenhouses where people can actually come in and buy those native plants to plant in their own yards.

We have a project Prairie Program, which has been wonderful.

We have over 30 schools now that are involved in it, and it kind of gets the schoolchildren involved in planting those prairies within the school properties.

And then they get to do upkeep and just learn about the different insects and birds and that they those attract and just get to really be involved and engage in that program.

So we're excited about that.

And it's just going to it's just keeps growing from there.

As far as how many prairies there are, you know, around this area regionally, you know, and it's growing from there.

A lot of businesses are involved in and as doing plantings in there at their business as well.

So we're excited about that program.

We have our Monarch Tag program where people can sponsor our monarch butterfly that we release out on their migration journey and kind of keep an eye on where they are on their way to Mexico.

And and then we also have our Sturgeon Fest event, our sturgeon tagging.

So we are releasing we release thousands of sturgeon back into the mommy river.

And it's a event that we hold every October and it's just a really great time.

If you've ever been dining, but you can go, it's right off the Wallbridge boat launch and you can sponsor a sturgeon and then keep an eye on it as it's making its journey out into the waterways and release the fish.

We have these cute little fish slides and kids can just kind of release them right into the Maumee River.

Doni: And, you know, and not only are they fun, but they are really helping the environment programs that are really helping the environment.

Yeah, people want to become sponsors.

Is it on the website?

Jennifer: Yes, definitely.

So any of those programs we just launched this year, our new birding program.

So if you're really into birding.

Jeremy, our bird ornithologist, expert, he there's different opportunities where you can go on birding watches and walks with him.

There's even trips that you can go on if that's something that you're interested.

So I know people are really starting to engage in that and so there's a lot of voters out there.

Doni: They really are.

This is a really popular county for that.

Jennifer: Yes, it is.

Yes, definitely.

So, Yeah, there's plenty of ways to get involved in any of those conservation programs and efforts.

If you go to our website and check it out and our wild Toledo native plants, if you're interested in planting those in your own yard, there's plenty of opportunities.

Those will probably be starting up late spring, early summer for people that want to make their planting.

So.

Doni: Yeah.

So for for people who want to be able to say, you know, I'm supporting the Lions or I'm supporting the Tigers or I'm supporting the bears, does the zoo pals help them do that?

Jennifer: Yes, they definitely do.

Yeah.

Our Zoo Pal program is just a wonderful program where, you know, it's kind of like sponsoring or supporting an animal, but without the work, you know?

So there's, you know, like you said, we have how many?

10,000, you.

Doni: Know, and.

Jennifer: Yeah, so there's you can sponsor an animal development team.

They'll send you out a little certificate in different little like if they have that special stuffed animal that goes along with the animal that you want to sponsor, they'll send that off to you.

And yeah, they'll take any dollar amount.

But it's a really great program.

And then you get involved in our Zoo Friends night and yeah, we're we're really proud of our zoo program and it's a great gift idea too.

If you're looking for a last minute gift idea and you say, my sister loves giraffes, you know, I want to get her a zoo pal.

So that she feels connected and sponsors one of the giraffes to help with that.

Animals care at the Toledo Zoo.

It's just a wonderful gift idea as well as memberships.

Memberships are great gift idea as well.

And I mean, there's so many different levels of our memberships.

Doni: That I guess we want us to spend a few minutes on this because one of the great things that this zoo does is to work really hard to find a way to get everybody in who wants to come in regardless of their ability to pay.

Yep.

And and I don't think people know that.

And sometimes they they choose not to go because they don't know that there are options.

So can you take us through some of those for sure.

Jennifer: Yeah.

Yes.

We have our community membership program that we're people are really beginning to engage in that.

So if you're looking for a membership for yourself, again, there's several levels.

You know, there's single, there's grandparents, there's the family.

So we're trying to like really gear it to whatever situation or family situation that you have.

And then we even this year really are trying to engage with our college students.

We want them to get excited about the zoo and continue and grow.

And, you know, when they start, their families become a part, you know, really a big part of the zoo.

So this year, during during the fall, we hosted a few at the Zoo College night and we offered a discount on like a college membership.

And I mean, a membership really does it pays for itself in two visits.

And you get so much out of that and you get unlimited life's visits and there's so many discounts that you can get involved in.

So being a member is a really great option.

If you're going to come to the zoo twice a year, you know, especially during lights and then people that want would like to gift a membership.

We do have our community zoo gifting membership where if there's a family in need, you can donate a zoo membership and then that family that may not ever get wouldn't get to visit the zoo or engage with the zoo.

We're giving them an opportunity to have that.

And I mean.

Doni: It's a really.

Jennifer: Cool.

It really is.

We actually just put a video out on social media that just was I mean, it just made me cry.

They had we had all of the zookeepers and staff reading the letters of thank you for people that have donated memberships to different families.

And they're like, it's just invaluable spending the time with their family when they normally couldn't go to the zoo and being able to engage in the different events and animals that we have going on.

It's just it was heartwarming to see how the generosity of people with that and they don't realize something, you know, as simple as that could mean so much to so many families.

Doni: So if, if I'm a family and I would like to engage in that program, how do I do that?

Jennifer: You there's a there's a page on our website.

Yes.

Yes.

If you go to Toledo's Zoo dot org and it's our donate page and there's so many different ways that you can get involved, whether it be a zoo pal or gifting a membership or our legacy program where people do their estate planning and leave a gift to the zoo.

There's different opportunities to leave your mark on the zoo, whether it be a bench or a tile or a plaque or, you know, I'm sure with the reptile house being remodeled, there's probably opportunities to make your mark and and leave that on your mark on the zoo and donate that for somebody maybe in your family is some sort of legacy momentum or even a monument of them.

So yeah so if people want to go to the website, all that information is there.

There's so many different ways.

Doni: Yes, spring is coming.

I know we haven't had any snow yet, but spring is actually coming.

Anything planned for spring?

Any event that we should be doing?

Jennifer: Well, we're excited.

We have a new a new event call in January coming up called Chilled and Distilled.

And it's like a vodka tasting event that you can do.

You can go around the zoo and visit some of our winter animals and and they'll have all kinds of cool cocktails.

Yes.

Yeah.

Yeah, I like that.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So we're kind of driving some people in, you know, in the winter months.

And then in February we have our gorgeous orchid show is back.

I think this is maybe our fifth year doing that.

So we transform the Promedica Museum of Natural History with all thousands of beautiful orchids are on display.

And then there's several events that kind of go around that, and we put some in the aquarium, too, so we can we have a coffee tasting coming up with that.

We have our wine tasting, so we get to have have wine and orders and dinner and that and these beautiful orchid displays.

We also have several enrichment events coming up for our animals.

I mean, we're excited.

I think you might have heard that.

Rene, our African elephant is pregnant.

Doni: I did.

Yes.

So we are.

Jennifer: That's going to be big next year.

So.

Or spring.

We're looking for a name out there.

Doni: Pregnant forever.

I got to your destination.

Jennifer: Yes.

So we're excited about that.

That's going to be happening in the spring.

So everything will be all elephant this year.

But yeah, so we'll be having our Valentine's Day themed enrichment event for our animals called Happy Hearts Day, where they get enrichment treats better like heart shaped and filled with whatever the species appropriate treats are for them.

Like vultures get bones and, you know, all kinds and the tigers and all that, you know.

And then, you know, once we head into the spring, we'll have our animal egg hunt where it switches over to kind of Easter egg themed treats throughout the zoo.

So, yeah, we have lots of things.

Our summer kick off in the spring.

But yeah, the big thing we are really looking forward to is the elephant baby that's going to be happening.

So everybody's going to be excited about that.

Doni: Before I forget, do you still have the was there a program that it was a significantly reduced rate or a free entry rate like on a Tuesday.

Jennifer: Yeah.

Our free Mondays will Monday.

Yep.

Yeah.

So for Lucas County residents we will have that on all the non-holiday Mondays between ten and noon.

As long as you show proof of residency that you're in Lucas County.

Yeah, we have free Mondays back, and we did reopen the Broadway gates so that a lot of the people in in that area were really happy about that.

That happened in April when we launched our Wild Wellness Walker program.

So I think you had mentioned earlier, if you want to take a nice walk around the zoo, it's a great opportunity between 730 and 9 a.m.. Doni: That's where you ought to be.

Yeah.

Members nonmembers just hang out there.

The place to walk.

Thank you.

Thank you so much for joining us and thank you for joining us as well today.

And I'd like to see you next time, on... To the Point.

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