Summertime savings are happening now at the St. Louis Zoo.
To ramp up attendance in the afternoons, the St. Louis Zoo is launching Summertime Savings.
Zoo Director Michael Macek said, “So what we've noticed, you can imagine, there's lots of things that are affecting attendance, of course. People are just a little concerned about getting out. There is the heat, of course, and wearing a mask and the heat isn't always the most pleasant thing. Although, we've been doing it now for over four months. But also tourism isn't like it used to be.”
Summertime Savings are offered from 1-5 p.m. every Monday through Thursday through September 3rd.
Macek said, "After one o'clock, you will get free parking and also a discount on our adventure pass. So for a family of four, that's about a $27 savings."
The Adventure Pass includes admission to the Carousel, Sea Lion Show, stingrays, and the train.
He said, "So it's a pretty good incentive to come out in the afternoon and temperatures are going to start to drop, it sounds like things are finally going to start to cool off. So, the mask might not be as unpleasant as some people may find it."
You can show your love for the zoo with animal-themed face masks, now available for purchase.
“I'm actually wearing a penguin mass today, which is a lot of fun. So yeah, we put in multiple orders already. They're very popular,” Macek said.
Sometime else new at the zoo: a ticketed event called Night at the Zoo. It takes place once a month now through September.
Adults over 21 receive two drink tickets, and animal-themed mask, and discounts. Due to the pandemic, Night at the Zoo will look different than a similar event called Jungle Boogie.
He said, “We’ve never had this per se, we used to have Jungle Boogie every Friday evening. The challenge with that under the current circumstances is that the footprint is very small. We used to have a band and everyone clustered around the band. We can’t do that under current circumstances. The footprint for this is bigger, almost the entire zoo. It’s strolling around and having drinks and doing things with adult friends.”
Make reservations to visit the zoo online at stlzoo.org/zooreservations. Ticket for Night at the Zoo cost $30 for nonmembers, $25 for members. You can get those at stlzoo.org/nightatthezoo. The next Night at the Zoo is Thursday, July 30 from 5:30-8:30.