Zoo-ologie

I don’t normally attend fancy fundraising events, but Lincoln Park Zoo’s annual Zoo-​ologie night event is one my wallet will make an exception for.
Sure, it’s a pricier event to attend with tickets ranging from $ 100-​$ 165 for VIP, but once you’re there it’s easy to eat, drink, and enjoy $ 165+ worth of exclusive zoo activities… not that that’s the goal.
If you get VIP tickets there are several perks but the one I was most interested in was the mystery ‘animal encounter’. I was hoping it’d be their elusive red panda, but alas it was a snake. (boo+hiss). I mean, I do actually really like snakes, but I could go to just about anywhere and see that so it didn’t really seem that cool.
What was cool was the ActionBooth station set up in front of the tiger exhibit and right next to very active lion’s den. Also, the endless free animal merry-​go-​round rides which I’m pretty sure they sped up to go faster than normal… or I drank more than I thought I did. It was cool because it wasn’t like going during the day where there’s rules and a million screaming kids– this was just adults dressed to the 9s, riding wacky animals in circle. I know it doesn’t sound like much, but I honestly underestimated how much fun it would be to pick an animal on the merry-​go-​round and ride. I think we rode it 4 or 5 times in a row and when got off we def had to brace ourselves on the railing from being so dizzy.
The DJ here was actually really rad. He didn’t play junky pop music and instead blended a lot of classic soul songs so there was something for everyone throughout the night.
The food and drink vendors here are outstanding. Milagro Tequila, Sailor Jerry Rum, Sunda, Black Dog Gelato, Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse and SO MANY MORE. It was interesting for me to see how people behaved around all these really high end vendors as I frequently host large-​scale events similar to this that are free to attend and people will absolutely ravage food and beverage stands, but here, where people were paying upwards of $ 200 the food and drink vendors went relatively unattended. Never a line, no pushing, no grabbing, and for the most part the vendors were trying to get more people to take their absolutely stunning foods. Was just interesting to see so many people pay so much money to not take advantage of the spoils, while the reverse where a group would have paid nothing the place would have been ravaged. The cost of social norms, I guess, but this was a refreshing event to attend, to say the least.
Best of all, your ticket price helps fund this city zoo that’s open all year long at no cost to the public. A mighty fine event and one I look forward to attending in future years.