Red River Zoo Hosts Zoo Year’s Eve For Kids and Families

Kids and families were able to do a countdown every hour.

FARGO, N.D.-  Zoo Year’s Eve is making sure kids get the New Years experience without going past their bedtime.

“The zoo is our big chance to celebrate the new year with all our friends. And, so we have on every hour on the hour we have a countdown for the New Year for the kids . We have animal encounters going on, we have all kinds of booths inside the carousel pavilion, we have crafts and activities, we have a campfire over here were you can roast some S’mores. So, it’s just a chance to celebrate the New Year for the kids and get them home back in bed before it’s too late,” says Jeremiah Gard, the Director of Finance at the Red River Zoo.

They believe kids should be able to also experience what the holiday is all about.

“New Years is an important time for us as humans. You know, we celebrate the old, we celebrate the new. And, so I don’t think kids should miss out on that because it’s past their bedtime. So, we’re excited to have kids come out here and enjoy the zoo. Enjoy the winter air and celebrate the new year,” he says.

Because of the winter storm, they say people are just eager to get out of their homes and do something with their families.

“It affects it in a good way, because people want to get out of the house after the storm,” he adds.

Despite the roads not being completely clean of snow, Sheila Blanford drove an hour and a half to spend time with her grandson.

“We have about 12 inches in our house. It took me a while to get out of the house today,” she says.

She says the F-M area should have more events like this for kids.

“Fargo-Moorhead doesn’t seem to have a lot of things to do for little kids. It’s very hard during the wintertime to keep them active and get them outside. That’s safe and fun. This is another avenue that we have. Which we don’t have a lot of. So take advantage of it,” Blanford says.

The event is expected to bring over 1,000 people.