With bulbs climbing into the hundreds of thousands and weeks of organizing, stringing different colours and even a synchronized music and light display, Moncton’s Magnetic Hill Zoo has transformed into a winter wonderland.
“It’s a perennial favourite,” said Alessandro Corazza, Friends of the Zoo Board President. “Lots of people come. It’s a nice walk outside to enjoy the lights, take in the scenery. We’ve had, I think, one or two engagements so far this year.”
In its eighth year, the Wild Lights display, put on by Friends of the Zoo, has continued to grow.
“We see, depending on weather, of course, and people’s availability, usually around 1,000 to 2,000 people per night,” he added.
The idea behind the extravagant light display is to bring the community together, while also helping to turn the usually seasonal attraction into a year-round place to visit.
The money raised through the event helps to fund different projects each year. This year will focus on building more storage for all of the lights as well as the Zebra and Watusi habitat.
“Everybody knows what a Zebra is, but Watusi is a cattle from Africa, so they’ve got these huge horns and their enclosure and building -- they need upgrades,” said Zoo Coordinator Bernard Gallant. “So we’re going to be doing it in three phases, which is the fencing, the holding and the building, and each of that needs quite a bit of money.”
Gallant says the entire renovation will take a “couple of hundred-thousand-dollars to even start,” but is something that the zoo is currently working towards.
“The City of Moncton gives us our basic funding for this place, but what happens next is that, for these extra things, we sometimes go for grants. We’ll go for different varieties of grants from federal or provincial government give us, but the Friends of the Zoo are our backbone for our little projects,” he said.
Right now, the Zoo is technically closed for the season, but with foot-traffic heavy during the Wild Lights exhibit, there is a chance that visitors will get a glimpse at some of their favourites and get the chance to learn more about how zoo animals adapt to Canadian winters.
“Oddly enough, most people think of, let’s say the camel for example, the camel comes from the desert, the camel enjoys the winter,” said Gallant. “They have a coat when they produce it about a foot thick of fur on them. So they really adapt well for the winter.”
Wild Lights will continue until Jan. 7th from 5 p.m. until 9 p.m.
“December can be a pretty busy time for everybody, so we like to offer everybody a chance to come here and take a look at everything that we’ve done here,” said Corazza.
The zoo will open back up on Sundays in March, before opening up for the season in April.
