Hogle Zoo reports record attendance

Hogle Zoo may have a tough time topping their New Year's resolutions from 2006 — the Salt Lake zoo reported record attendance last year, beating its old record from 1997.

The 2006 growth is attributed to the opening of the new big-cat exhibit Asian Highlands, the public display of 1-year-old baby orangutan Acara and the celebration of the zoo's 75th anniversary.

In 2006, 847,831 guests visited the zoo. The former record from 1997 was 821,458. That 2006 achievement includes 66,000 schoolchildren and 16,000 households with zoo memberships.

"It's very gratifying to see that our commitment to improvements and excellence is resulting in more people experiencing what Hogle Zoo has to offer," Craig Dinsmore, the zoo's executive director, said in a statement.

But the challenge for 2007 will be keeping up that momentum.

"We're coming off a record attendance year in 2006, and now we face challenges to meet our goal in 2007," said Brad Parkin, Hogle's marketing director. "However, we feel like we have some surprises in store for our guests that they'll enjoy."

Some of those surprises include a holiday lights festival and more seasonal exhibits.

"In the absence of a major exhibit opening up, we have a lot of things planned for this year," Dinsmore said at the December board meeting. "This time next year, the zoo will be transformed into a festival atmosphere."

Hogle Zoo will model the Christmas-themed lights festival after a similar festival at the Denver Zoo. A string of activities will be tied in with the festival, such as an elaborate lights display, Christmas carolers and community activities.

The event has been wildly popular in Denver, where the Colorado zoo reports 15 percent of its attendance during the festival. Hogle Zoo staff visited the Denver Zoo a few weeks ago to check out the festival for themselves.

"Since we will not have a major attraction opening for a while, we're looking at sustainability," Jerry Good, assistant director of administration, said at the zoo's board meeting. He said services and programs need to be improved to compete with 2006. "They'll have to step up more in the next few years, to make up for not having another major attraction open."

In the past two years, two successful exhibits have opened at Hogle Zoo. The attractions were constructed through a $10.2 million general-obligation bond that was approved by Salt Lake voters in 2003. The first display was Elephant Encounter, which opened in June 2005. Dinsmore credited the new elephant and rhino digs with increasing zoo attendance that year, which was up by 1,500 people some days compared to previous years. Asian Highlands had the same effect.

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