With a donation from UF Health, Santa Fe College Teaching Zoo’s 21st annual Boo at the Zoo event will be bigger than ever this Halloween.
"This is the event we do for the community," said Jade Salamone, the zoo conservation education specialist.
Zoo support specialist Michelle Hagan said Santa Fe Teaching Zoo, located at 3000 NW 83rd St., traditionally depended on a $5,000 budget of its own funds to host this event. This year, UF Health donated $6,000 — most of which will go toward purchasing candy for the participating trick-or-treaters, Hagan said.
Boo at the Zoo is a family-friendly Halloween fundraising event taking place from 3 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Attendees are asked to donate one canned good per person for admission. There are usually about 3,000 people who attend, and the cans are donated to Santa Fe Harvest and Catholic Charities, Salamone said.
She said the zoo raises about 4,000 to 6,000 cans each year.
The Hippodrome State Theatre, Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens, Satchel’s Pizza and Pomodoro Café donated prizes this year for Santa Fe students working on the event, Hagan said.
Students in Santa Fe’s zoo animal technology program, a five-semester-long program, worked in small teams to create 14 themes at the event, Salamone said.
Some of this year’s themes are "Star Wars," "The Wizard of Oz" and "Up," she said.
Students in the program have been working since August to create full sets for each given theme. They will be in costumes dressed with props and different things they’ve made, Salamone said.
Kevin Castellanos, a fourth-semester zoo animal technology student, said he is one of six team members working on the "Beauty and the Beast" theme. He said he will be dressed up as Lumière, the candle, and will be greeting everyone with the song "Be Our Guest."
"All of us will be in character," the 21-year-old said. "We’ll have red carpet, the stained-glass pictures and all of that."
Apart from the themed sections, Boo at the Zoo will have a pumpkin patch displaying carved and decorated pumpkins from students, staff and other Gainesville residents. Danscompany of Gainesville will be performing "Thriller" throughout the night and Domino’s Pizza will be selling food and refreshments, Hagan said.
"Students wanted to give back to the community and they came up with this event," Salamone said. "It turned into a big thing."
