Event Coordinator Mariah Malone from John Ball Zoo joins us on this week’s podcast episode to talk about what it’s like handling events at the zoo, including the upcoming Zoo Goes Boo event.

 

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0:00:05.7 Lynne Jarman-Johnson: Money, I’m Home. Welcome in. I’m Lynne Jarman-Johnson with Consumers Credit Union. It’s October. We’re in short sleeves, vibrant colors here at John Ball Zoo. And joining us today is Mariah Malone. I want to call her the fun coordinator here at John Ball Zoo. Do you like that title?

0:00:25.1 Mariah Malone: I’ll take it. It’s quite the title.

0:00:28.2 LJJ: You’re actually events coordinator. Tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got here. What a job.

0:00:32.6 MM: It is such a job. I’ve been here for five years. I love being here. I get to interact with animals. I get to interact with people. I get to make people smile. And that’s really the essence of my job. And that’s really exciting.

0:00:48.1 LJJ: You know what, October, the animals don’t go to sleep, do they? It becomes nighttime prowl.

0:00:53.0 MM: Correct. They’re very active. It’s still a good time to come. It’s cooler for you. Maybe not today. It’s cooler for the animals, but it’s a nice atmosphere to come out to the zoo.

0:01:04.5 LJJ: So tell us a little bit about you first, Mariah. How long have you been with the zoo? What do you do?

0:01:08.8 MM: I’ve been with the zoo for five years. I am the events coordinator at the zoo. So I do handle things like Zoo Goes Boo that’s coming up and all the fun events like that.

0:01:16.9 LJJ: We’re going to get into Zoo Goes Boo. I want to recap a little bit of the summer.

0:01:21.1 MM: Sure.

0:01:22.8 LJJ: We opened up the Hippo Pavilion. It is an awesome play interactive area. Consumers is so proud to be a part of that. Hippo Hero is a really fun campaign that kicked off the hippos here at the zoo. But it really also focuses in, this pavilion, about water conservation, about really how pygmy hippos are in the wild. But then the entire zoo was affected.

0:01:46.6 MM: It was. So we talk about water conservation often. It’s something that we really try to invest in. I know that a lot of care and a lot of thought put into how we’re going to do water conservation here in a habitat like this.

0:02:00.2 LJJ: And one of the things that you may not know that Peter told us about, when we had our corporate retreat here, is that now the water is recycled back and forth, back into here … And it’s an amazing savings, not only for money, but also then for the conservation. One other cool part that I was introduced to, and this is the education events component that you might not think about, but when you’re walking through the zoo, look at the tops of the rocks or the tops of the buildings. There’s always plantings there. It’s crazy.

0:02:31.9 MM: There is. We have a lot of live roofs, and our horticulture team does a really good job at incorporating them and trying to put plants where we can. A lot of them or most of them are native Michigan plants, and they help pollinators. They help native wildlife. They try to make it so that way they’re a part of helping the area around where we live. So we’re helping the native Michigan community.

0:02:56.5 LJJ: You cannot tell by the weather, everyone. It is October, and it is summer here at the zoo. It also is Boo Goes Zoo. Tell us a little bit about it.

0:03:04.8 MM: Yeah, Zoo Goes Boo is our annual Halloween event, and we’re really excited about it. We have 13 trick-or-treat stations that we put throughout the entire zoo, and everyone can come, pick up their candy. We encourage you to bring your own bag, and then we actually have options for … allergy friendly options as well. We’ll have little teal pumpkins out at some of the booths, and you’ll be able to pick up a token, and we’ll have an allergy friendly booth so that way if you don’t find anything at all these other options at these treat stations, we have a specialty booth just for you.

0:03:33.7 LJJ: Well, that you’re always thinking about everyone, and all ages. I just saw an outing here that were older adults, probably, in their you know 60s or 70s and above, just enjoying the zoo. You have such a way that you have created an accessible area for the events too.

0:03:52.1 MM: Yeah, we really try to make it a zoo for all, and we want to make it inclusive. We have sensory areas for anyone that has sensory needs, and then they can have a quiet zone to go to. We have wheelchair accessibility; it’s all ADA accessible. We try and make it very inclusive, and we think about that when it comes to every single event and thing that we do here.

0:04:12.8 LJJ: So Consumers is really proud to be the interactive play station for the Hippo Pavilion. Tell us about all the things that you do when you think about, “Okay, we have a new exhibit coming up. We have these events that are already in store that we know are popular.” It must be almost sometimes daunting to think of the ways that you have to fit the calendar in.

0:04:33.0 MM: Yes. Honestly, you have to fit in into the calendar and then you have to think of how you’re going to use the new exhibits and not only how are the animals going to be enjoying the exhibit, but how are me, as an events person, how am I going to use it to my advantage and make it work really well for guests coming and make it really exciting for them? So that’s always been a nice challenge.

0:04:53.3 LJJ: What is your favorite part of your job? It must be something different every day.

0:04:58.3 MM: It really is. It’s a hard thing to answer, honestly, because events are so much fun and they’re really exciting. But, honestly, my favorite part is, even though I don’t directly help the animals, I also do directly help the animals because everything that I do, all the proceeds, everyone that comes to the event, everything goes right back towards helping wildlife in wild places.

0:05:21.6 LJJ: Tell us a little bit about that background where that passion came from, Mariah.

0:05:25.2 MM: Yeah, honestly, I’ve just really liked animals my whole life, and coming to the zoo just brought everything to fruition, and being able to get people excited, not only to educate them about animals, but just to give them a really fun interactive experience has really just grown that passion, and being able to do it here is just perfect.

0:05:45.0 LJJ: When you think of the top events that you have brought to the table for the community, there’s so many that I have come to over the years that I’m sure you have been involved in. Is there any one that stands out?

0:06:00.0 MM: That’s a hard answer. I would say Lantern Festival since it’s new this year has just been peak for us. That’s something that we’re really, really excited about. But we’ve also really invested into our education events this year, and they’ve been growing massively, and I really am excited about them. I can’t tell you how exciting Monarch Day was. We actually released 500 monarch butterflies here at the zoo, and we were able to release them into the wild and they’ll be flying down to central Mexico, where they’ll send new migration groups after them to come back up here, and they’ll do the whole thing again next year. And that’s just really cool to educate people on.

0:06:39.2 LJJ: It really is incredible. Now the zoo itself, Consumers has utilized many of the spaces here. If you don’t mind I’d love to have you just touch base on how corporations can utilize the zoo.

0:06:50.4 MM: Yeah, so we have a lot of opportunities here; you can sponsor, you can book an after hours event. So you can come for the day. It’s, honestly, whatever you want to do, we have that option for you.

0:07:03.0 LJJ: Well, and I’ll tell you another option that we’ve got; is our wonderful checking account program that allows family members to get an actual free zoo membership. That goes on and off all year long. So if you’re interested in that stop by any office, and we’ll make sure we hook you up. It’s a great opportunity.

0:07:19.8 MM: It’s such a great opportunity.

0:07:22.6 LJJ: Tell me a little bit, when you talk about Zoo Goes Boo, what are the hours and tell us a little bit about … Do kids dress up? What what should we expect?

0:07:28.9 MM: We highly, highly encourage kids dress up. We encourage everyone to dress up.

0:07:32.0 LJJ: Kids of all ages.

0:07:33.8 MM: All ages. Kids of all ages. And then if you don’t have a costume we have face painting. So you can come on down dress up anyway. But we do have a member only hour from 9:00 to 10:00 every day of the event. The event runs Friday through Sunday for the last three weeks of October, and then it’s 10:00 to 5:00 for regular admission. So you can come anytime during that day.

0:07:53.6 LJJ: So if you’re a member you get a little bit of a reprieve, I guess, you’d say, with the crowds, ’cause you do get busy.

0:07:58.8 MM: We do get busy. So you do get a preview as a member and you also get in for free with your membership.

0:08:03.6 LJJ: That is amazing. So tell us a little bit about what you have coming up in the fall. The reason I ask is I know you close in what, mid-November, end of November.

0:08:11.2 MM: Mid-November.

0:08:12.1 LJJ: But it’s a perfect time to see the animals in action.

0:08:15.1 MM: It is. Honestly, the zoo is so nice to visit in the fall. It’s a little bit quieter; it’s a little bit cooler. The animals are out a little bit more and active. Some of them do go inside for the cold season, but the ones that don’t are really excited for the cold season. The snow leopards always really enjoy it, I’ll be honest. But it’s just fun to stop on by. So if you’re not even coming for an event, it’s still a good time to come out to the zoo.

0:08:42.2 LJJ: And quickly. Membership. It goes year to year. So if someone wants to have a membership right now, it’ll go for a full year.

0:08:48.7 MM: Correct. Yes.

0:08:49.2 LJJ: That’s awesome. Mariah, thank you so much for your time today. Thank you guys for listening. Everyone have a great week. I’m Lynne Jarman-Johnson. Thank you Jake Esselink for your production skills. And again, Mariah, thank you for your time.

0:09:01.6 MM: Thank you.

0:09:02.6 LJJ: Have a great week, everyone.

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