JUDD WEIL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Calling all heroes! The Hutchinson Zoo is hosting its first ever Hometown Heroes Family Zoo Night on June 16.
“We are going to celebrate some of our first responders and other heroes that we have in the community,” Hannah Grace, Friends of the Hutchinson Zoo administrator, said. “We're going to do some activities for both our first responders and we have some activities for students to celebrate their teachers.”
Hometown Heroes Family Zoo Night at the Hutchinson Zoo will have plenty for people to do.
“We will have some of our super awesome first responder trucks and vehicles, so everybody gets to see those. We know that the kids love the up-close and personal with their favorite first responders,” Grace said. “We'll have some crafts here so they can pick their favorites, whether that's EMS or fire or police, or there's actually an option to pick no choice and they could just do a craft where they get to create their own badge.”
620 In The Mix will be DJing at the event.
There will be a few animal encounters at the Hometown Heroes event.
“We will have at least three animal encounters. I have one keeper who told me she actually wants to move, so we might have five separate animal encounters throughout the night,” Grace said. “There's going to be several different stations, so you can pick and choose which animal you want to hear about, what to learn about, get kind of an up-close personal meet-and-greet with the animals. We’ll also have our education coordinator here who will help introduce some of our education animals, which are the ones that you can get even closer to. You don't have to have a separation barrier between you and most of them.”
The encounters will take place at 6:30 p.m., 7:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.
Hometown Heroes is also a fundraising effort for the Hutchinson Zoo.
“The majority of the events that we do for the Hutchinson Friends of the Zoo are to raise funds for enclosure improvements or major improvements, such as the Splash River that we are about to open or our bison exhibit that's coming up soon,” Grace said.
Entry to Hometown Heroes is $10 per person. Tickets give access to all events throughout the night, including train rides. Tickets are also buy three, get one free.
Additionally, Tyson Foods has donated hamburgers. Meal tickets are an additional $5.
Hometown Heroes is just 'part one' of Hutchinson Zoo’s Family Zoo Nights. Part two, Fairytails, is slated for July 14.
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