Reid Park Zoo Sets Attendance Record
Reid Park Zoo is celebrating a milestone — its highest attendance ever.
On Tuesday, June 25 the Zoo set a record for the most people to ever visit in a fiscal year when guest number 618,358 walked through the front gate. The previous record was set 9 years ago after Nandi, the first African elephant born in Arizona, was born at the Zoo.
“Thank you Tucson for spending this year with us, for celebrating your milestones at the Zoo, for caring deeply about the animals in our care, and for making Zoo improvements possible in recent years,” said Nancy Kluge, Reid Park Zoo’s President & CEO.
The Zoo greeted the record-setting guest with streamers and a gift package, including a complimentary annual membership, free admission, carousel, train ride, and giraffe feeding tickets, plush toy animals, and a commemorative brick in the Zoo’s entry plaza donated in their honor. The guests also received free snacks in the Zoo’s Flamingo Grill.
Reid Park Zoo’s fiscal year runs July 1 to June 30. The Zoo anticipates welcoming more than 620,000 guests in attendance for the year, in part due to the new World of Play and sloth exhibit made possible by funding from the Future of Your Zoo tax initiative, and births of both an elephant and a giraffe calf. “There are still a few days left in the year for us, and we are very excited to see where the new record is set,” Kluge said.
Guests who would like to be a part of this record-breaking week can visit the Zoo from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. any day, or attend one of this week’s evening events from 6 to 8 p.m: Family Pride Night on Friday, June 28; and Summer Safari Night’s Meet Your Zoo Night on Saturday, June 29.