Boston Lights is back again, illuminating Franklin Park Zoo’s 72-acres with a stunning array of all-new lanterns and lights. Experience the rich cultural history of China through traditional lantern scenes including a 200-foot-long display of pagodas, cranes and lotuses, as well as a glowing walk-through dragon tunnel spanning over 80 feet. 6:00 pm – 10:30 pm. $22.95 For more information visit https://www.zoonewengland.org/engage/boston-lights
The Franklin Park Zoo will hold a fund raising event, Uncorked, on Saturday, June 4 beginning at 5 pm at the Zoo, located at 1 Franklin Park Road in Boston. Throughout the evening, guests have the opportunity to sample wines while strolling among the animals in the Zoo’s signature Tropical Forest Pavilion. Here, guests can see western lowland gorillas, pygmy hippos, ring-tailed-lemurs, a giant anteater and many other fascinating species.
Proceeds from Uncorked support the operation and continued growth of Franklin Park Zoo, its education programs, and conservation initiatives. Advance tickets (www.zoonewengland.org) $50, $55 at the gate on the day of the event.
Join historian and author Elizabeth Hope Cushing on Wednesday, December 3, at 6 pm in the Hunnewell Building at the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, as she speaks of landscape architect Arthur Shurcliff’s early work in Boston and how this led to Colonial Williamsburg, his largest and most significant contribution to American landscape architecture.
In 1928, the landscape architect and preservationist Arthur A. Shurcliff (1870–1957) began what became one of the most important examples of the American Colonial Revival landscape—Colonial Williamsburg. But before this, Shurcliff honed his skills in Boston. An 1894 engineering graduate of MIT with an interest in landscape design, Shurcliff, on the advice of Frederick Law Olmsted and with the aid of his mentor, Charles Eliot, pieced together courses at Harvard College, the Lawrence Scientific School, and the Bussey Institute. He then spent eight years working in the Olmsted office, acquiring a broad and sophisticated knowledge of the profession. Opening his own practice in 1904, Shurcliff emphasized his expertise in town planning, preparing plans for towns surrounding Boston. He designed recreational spaces that Bostonians still enjoy today, including significant aspects of the Franklin Park Zoo and the Charles River Esplanade. Historian Elizabeth Hope Cushing will speak of Shurcliff’s early work in Boston and how this led to Colonial Williamsburg, his largest and most significant contribution to American landscape architecture. Fee Free, but registration requested. You may register on line at https://my.arboretum.harvard.edu/Info.aspx?DayPlanner=1381&DayPlannerDate=12/3/2014. Seating is limited. A reception will follow the lecture.
The Esplanade Association is please to be a co-sponsor of this event along with the Library of American Landscape History, Boston Society of Landscape Architects, Friends of Fairsted, the and the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University.
On Sunday, November 16 at 1 pm, explore the portion of Franklin Park that designer Frederick Law Olmsted called the Ante-Park (“Aâ€), which today is largely defined by the Franklin Park Zoo (“Zâ€). The walk will include stops at the Valley Gates, the Playstead Overlook, White Stadium, and the old Bear Dens. This tour includes an OPTIONAL extension into Franklin Park Zoo to explore the early Zoo designed by one-time Olmsted firm apprentice Arthur Shurcliff. Meets at “Giraffe†rear entrance to the Franklin Park Zoo, just off the Jewish War Veterans Drive (also known as Circuit Drive). The National Park Service ranger led Walk and Talk is free and open to the public. For more information, please call 617-566-1689.
Last fall, the Board of Directors of the Garden Club Federation of Massachusetts agreed to participate with the Franklin Park Zoo in a special and unique garden initiative named the Organic Garden Project (OGP). The garden will raise food for the animals to offset the annual food costs. The Garden Club Federation’s role is to provide volunteers.
• In April, the Franklin Park Zoo in Boston established their rotating horticulture garden at the zoo to grow varieties of nutritious greens and other crops to feed the gorillas, anteaters, giraffes, zebras, birds and more. Now volunteers are needed from June through August 2014 to sow seeds, water and harvest the crops.
• The zoo needs a maximum of three volunteers each day to support this 50’ x 60′ garden.
• Volunteers may sign up for two hour shifts from 10 am – 12 noon on Mondays and Wednesdays beginning June 2nd through August 27th.
Please sign up to volunteer to help. Organize a group to volunteer every Monday and Wednesday for a month this summer. If you belong to a club with a youth gardeners’ group, encourage them to volunteer as a summer activity (volunteers must be 14 years or older).
It is so easy to sign up.
To volunteer, go to: www.SignUpGenius.com/go/10C0B4AACA72BA5FF2-zoonew and enter the information requested. For more information, contact Ali Fioretti, Volunteer Coordinator for Zoo New England. She can be reached by email (afioretti@zoonewengland.com) or phone at 617-989-2017 or 617-259-4360.
This is an exciting and amazing opportunity for our members to help Zoo New England… and the animals that will be fed by your efforts!
Don’t miss the Fourth Annual Brew at the Zoo on Saturday, August 17, beginning at 5 pm at the Columbia Road Entrance to the Franklin Park Zoo. Brew at the Zoo is a “beer tasting†event that features stations hosted by local breweries and restaurants – as well as an opportunity to stroll amongst the animals in the zoo’s signature Tropical Forest Pavilion, which is home to ring-tailed lemurs, ocelots, Baird’s tapirs, a pygmy hippo, free-flight birds and many other species. Guests will also have the opportunity to visit Aussie Aviary, a seasonal free-flight exhibit featuring brightly-colored budgies.
Participating breweries include Peak Organic Brewing Company, Blue Hills Brewery, Long Trail Brewing Co., Samuel Adams, Dogfish Head Brewery, Foolproof Brewing Company, Harpoon Brewery, Smuttynose Brewing Company, Cambridge Brewing Company, Clown Shoes Beer, Slumbrew, Watch City Brewing Company, Narragansett Beer, Mayflower Brewing Company, Bantam Cider Company, Woodchuck Hard Cider, The Traveler Beer Company, Brooklyn Brewery, Lagunitas Brewing Company, Brewery Ommegang, Down the Road Brewery, Battle Road Brewing Co., Beer Works, 3 Beards Beer Company, Do Can Brewery, Newburyport Brewing Company, Paper City Brewery, and Rapscallion. Food will be provided by American Flatbread, Amir’s Natural Foods, California Pizza Kitchen, Food Should Taste Good, Harrow’s Chicken Pies, Maggiano’s Little Italy, Ole Mexican Grill, Olecito, Popeye’s, Upper Crust Pizzeria, Utz Quality Foods, and Costco Wholesale. Music will also be provided by DJ BK.
Given the popularity of Franklin Park Zoo, Brew at the Zoo promises to one of the most unforgettable beer tasting events in Boston! Proceeds from Brew at the Zoo will support the operation and continued growth of Franklin Park Zoo, its education programs and conservation initiatives. $60 fee. See www.zoonewengland.org for more information.
Celebrate Earth Day at Franklin Park Zoo on Sunday, April 22 from 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. Learn more about the incredible animals that call the Zoo home as well as ways everyone can contribute to a healthy planet. This free (with admission) event is in partnership with the Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts. To learn more, visit www.zoonewengland.org.
For the first time, the Boston Common’s Frog Pond, in collaboration with the Franklin Park Zoo, will hosting a Frog Appreciation Day. This celebration of the pond’s amphibious namesake is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. and August 20th and will include many fun games and activities that you won’t want to miss! Face painting, story-telling, live music and frog races are just the beginning!
Franklin Park Zoo staff will be on hand to answer all your frog-related questions and will also host an interactive frog discussion session. There will even be a giveaway for children’s tickets to the zoo. Kids will have a great time while learning cool facts about frogs and the importance of protecting animal habitats.
Visitors will once again be able to stroll through Franklin Park Zoo’s tented outdoor exhibit, filled with hundreds of free-flying, beautiful butterflies! Don’t miss this tranquil experience, which features garden beds, a waterfall, pond, and soothing music. Hours are 11 – 4 (Monday – Friday) and 11 – 5 (weekends.) Admission $16 for adults, $13 for seniors, $10 for children 2 – 12, children under 2 free. Franklin Park Zoo is located at 1 Franklin Park Road in Dorchester, and you may find more information by calling 617-541-5466, or logging on to www.franklinparkzoo.org.
To kick-off the 6th annual Birds and Bards Festival, The Arnold Arboretum, the Boston Nature Center, the Emerald Necklace Conservancy, and the Franklin Park Coalition will screen the movie Ghost Bird —a fascinating look at the controversial “rediscovery†of the extinct (or is it?) Ivory-billed woodpecker.
The screening will take place at 6:30pm on Thursday, April 28th at the Boston Nature Center, 500 Walk Hill Street, Mattapan, Massachusetts 02126.
In 2005, scientists announced that the Ivory-billed woodpecker, a species thought to be extinct for 60 years, had been found in the swamps of Eastern Arkansas. Other creatures have wrongly been presumed extinct, but the reappearance of the Ivory-bill was celebrated around the world as the rediscovery of a lifetime, prompting the largest recovery effort ever undertaken for a lost species. Millions of dollars poured in from the government while ornithologists and birders flooded the swamps to find the rare bird.
Down the road, the town of Brinkley, Arkansas – itself on the brink of extinction – was transformed by the hope, commerce and controversy surrounding their feathered friend. But continued sightings by expert birders only highlighted the mysterious absence of credible evidence. Now six years later, the woodpecker remains as elusive as ever. Ghost Bird brings the Ivory-bill’s blurry rediscovery into focus revealing our uneasy relationship with nature and the increasing uncertainty of our place within it.
Following the film, there will be a panel discussion about the state of conservation and endangered species in Massachusetts and around the world. Experts from three of the leading conservation organizations in MA will be available to answer questions:
Pearl Yusuf, Asst. Curator of the Hooves and Horns, Franklin Park Zoo
Joan Walsh, Director of Bird Monitoring, Mass Audubon
Wayne Klockner, Director of the Massachusetts Program of The Nature Conservancy
For more info visit
http://arboretum.harvard.edu/news-events/birds-and-bards/
http://www.massaudubon.org/Nature_Connection/Sanctuaries/Boston/news.php?id=1430&event=no
Contact: Marc Devokaitis 617.384.5209 marc_devokaitis@harvard.edu
