Front Range zoos go boo for Halloween
The details: 4-8:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday; Oct. 23-25, 30 and 31, 4250 Cheyenne Mountain Zoo Road; $17.25, children 2 and under free; cmzoo.org
Something else: ZooBoo at Pueblo Zoo, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Oct. 31, 3455 Nuckolls Ave., Pueblo; adult $10, child $3; pueblozoo.org
Headed north? Boo at Denver Zoo, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Oct. 24 and 25, 31 and Nov. 1, 2300 Steele St., Denver; $17, children 3-11 $12; denverzoo.org
At Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, the season of good-natured extortion requires an elephant-sized cache of treats. More than 9,000 pounds of candy, from companies committed to the use of sustainable palm oil and the protection of orangutan habitats, will be handed out at “spooky treat stations” for Boo at the Zoo, the zoo’s annual Halloween family event.
“Normally, we have a few bags left over. We’ve got a pretty good calculation and want to make sure we have plenty of candy to hand out,” said public relations manager Erica Meyer. “Knock on wood, we’ve never run out and we never will.”
The multinight seasonal celebration is one of the mountaintop facility’s longer-running and more popular events, Meyer said.
“We always say that Boo at the Zoo is one of the most unique and safe environments to trick or treat in the city,” Meyer said. “Kids are pumped to wear their costumes, so why not let them trick or treat and wear their costumes more than once?”
Other Halloween-themed activities at the zoo during Boo at the Zoo include a haunted fun house, graveyard and pirate cove and a lighted pumpkin patch.
“Lots of families enjoy taking their fall photos there,” Meyer said.
The route this year includes a loop through the newly renovated Australian Walkabout exhibit, where attendees get the chance to hand-feed budgies and meet the zoo’s male emu, Damian – who, for the record, was not named after the creepy title character from “The Omen.”
“People will get to go into the new indoor wallaby building, can check out our alligators in their new indoor holding space and see Bexley, our tree kangaroo,” Meyer said. “There’s lots of opportunities to see a lot of cool new animals but also some other frightfully fun attractions.”
To help connect consumers with orangutan-friendly products during Halloween and year round, Cheyenne Mountain developed a sustainable palm oil shopping guide that’s available as a free download on its website, cmzoo.org.
Stephanie Earls, The Gazette, 636-0364, stephanie.earls@gazettedev.gazette.com
