ZooLights starts Friday at Oregon Zoo
PORTLAND, Ore. – The Oregon Zoo invites visitors to brighten their holiday nights at ZooLights, where sparkling lights and brilliant hues transform the zoo into a winter wonderland. Presented by Fred Meyer with support from The Boeing Company, the traditional holiday light show begins Friday, Nov. 25 and runs through Jan. 1 at the zoo.
ZooLights has delighted visitors for more than two decades with its dazzling life-size animal silhouettes, moving sculptures, forests of lighted trees and light-bedecked train. Covered in holiday finery, the famous Oregon steam engine takes guests on an express jaunt around the zoo to see light displays visible only from the train.
“ZooLights is a great way to start the holiday season,” said Kim Smith, zoo director. “We’re looking forward to unveiling some spectacular new light displays on Thanksgiving weekend.”
New to ZooLights this winter are strings of lights that depict cascading snow. Visitors should also keep an eye out for silhouettes of gnomes: the fantastical garden-dwellers are part of a scavenger hunt that can win sharp-eyed visitors a prize at the Zoo Store.
Much-loved displays from previous years make an encore appearance. Life-size, 3-D beasts linger on the zoo’s concert lawn, which is transformed into a 180-foot-long meandering river of light. Hippos graze near the water while crocodiles lie in wait, ready to snap their jaws on unsuspecting prey. Other returning favorites include leaping reindeer, trumpeting elephants, playful penguins and tobogganing polar bears.
In keeping with the zoo’s commitment to sustainability, most of the lights displayed are light-emitting diodes (LEDs), which use only about 1 percent of the power of standard holiday lights, and about 10 percent of the power in mini-lights. LEDs don’t burn out the way traditional bulbs do, ensuring a long lasting, eco-friendly ZooLights experience.
Costumed animal mascots and elves will provide entertainment as well as fun photo opportunities, and sounds of the season will resound throughout the Elephant Plaza, with more than 100 groups performing holiday musical selections. The Tualatin Valley Model Railroad Club is continuing its popular model train exhibit in the Elephant Museum.
Some of the zoo’s favorite animals will be visible at night as well. Guests can visit sea otters, polar bears, penguins, mountain goats, leopards, tigers, some primates and elephants.
ZooLights hours are Sunday through Thursday, 5-8 p.m. and Friday through Saturday, 5-8:30 p.m. ZooLights will be closed Dec. 24-25. ZooLights package tickets, which include admission and a train ride, are $10.75 for adults (12-64), $9.25 for seniors (65 and older), $7.75 for children (3-11) and free for children 2 and under. Admission-only prices are $9 for adults, $7.50 for seniors, $6 for children and free for children 2 and under.
The zoo is a service of Metro and is dedicated to its mission of inspiring the community to create a better future for wildlife. Committed to conservation, the zoo is currently working to save endangered California condors, Columbia Basin pygmy rabbits, Oregon silverspot and Taylor’s checkerspot butterflies, western pond turtles, Oregon spotted frogs and Kincaid’s lupine. Other projects include studies on black rhinos, Asian elephants, polar bears and bats.
The zoo opens at 9 a.m. daily and is located five minutes from downtown Portland, just off Highway 26. The zoo is also accessible by MAX light rail line. Visitors who travel to the zoo via MAX receive $1.50 off zoo admission. Call TriMet Customer Service, 503-238-RIDE (7433), or visit www.trimet.org for fare and route information.
General admission is $10.50 (ages 12-64), $9 for seniors (65 and up), $7.50 for children (ages 3-11) and free for those 2 and younger; 25 cents of the admission price helps fund regional conservation projects through the zoo’s Future for Wildlife program. A parking fee of $2 per car is also required. Additional information is available at www.oregonzoo.org or by calling 503-226-1561.
