News and Stories

Get inspired by monarchs and join the Zoofari fun without leaving your home

CINCINNATI, OH (September 25, 2020) – The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden is committed to inspiring visitors with wildlife and has found a way to get even more people close enough to care from anywhere with virtual events.  For the first time ever – anyone, anywhere can attend Zoofari, the Zoo’s most crucial annual fundraiser and Cincinnati’s premier party with a purpose.  Just tune in to Virtual Zoofari tonight at 7 pm! It’s FREE and black tie optional.

The Zoo has also reimagined its annual monarch celebration and will deliver a Virtual Monarch Festival, presented by Simple Truth, starting Monday, September 28. Monarch-themed videos and activities will be shared daily through October 2 to inspire pollination and migration appreciation around the world!

“This is the time of year when monarchs make their incredible, 3,000-mile journey from Canada and the United States to the Mexican forest to overwinter,” said Cincinnati Zoo director Thane Maynard. “Last year, staff and visitors paraded through the Zoo to create a symbolic monarch migration.  We’re not able to do that this year but will share videos and fun activities that highlight the important role everyone can play to help monarchs make it to their destination.”

The Virtual Monarch Festival will feature a monarch tagging and milkweed planting demonstration, a guided walk through the Zoo’s botanical garden followed by a LIVE Q & A with the Zoo’s horticulture experts, and a special invitation from Zoo Teens for everyone to get outside to look for monarchs and the fall blooming flowers they are feeding on! You can find all of this on the Zoo’s website and on its Pollen Nation Facebook Page

“Our mission is to inspire visitors with wildlife, and we are getting creative to find ways to do that at the Zoo and beyond,” said Maynard. “For now, we are bringing people close enough to care – from a distance!  We hope to invite people back next year to march in the Monarch Festival Parade and dance at an in-person Zoofari.”