The Wilds holds annual Wildzfest on Saturday

ZANESVILLE, Ohio — Thousands of community members spent their Memorial Day weekend taking a trip through the Safari.

The Wilds hosted their annual “Wildzfest” today. The event, which takes about a year to prepare for, included a visit from Captain America and Spiderman, along with zoo animal meet and greets, live entertainment, an education zone, games, tours, and more.

“Wildzfest, we’re in our fifth year and it’s basically an event to give our thanks to the community for their support over the years. We have a lot of free activities, we have our regular safari tours for $30, but we also have a lot of free games, we have character ambassadors from the zoo, we have lots of animals from the zoo that you can get up-close and personal with,” said Rick Dietz, Vice President for The Wilds.

While the event is held to thank the community, Dietz says that they get visitors from all over the state and country, and they have activities that appeal to just about everyone.

“We have people come from all over, and our attendance keeps growing and growing every year. We have so much to offer for our guests in addition to our safari tours. We have our specialty wild-side tours, we having fishing safaris on the over 100 lakes that we have on the property. We also have a two-and-a-half hour ziplining tour, we have overnight accommodations, horseback riding– a little bit for everyone,” explained Dietz.

Dietz adds that Wildzfest is one of their biggest days of the year and they can expect up to 3,500 people to attend.

Aside from Wildzfest, Dietz says they are expecting a lot of babies this year at The Wilds. They are expecting a baby giraffe any day now, and some cheetah cubs are on their way. He also says they have some new animals at their Carnivore Center, including dholes, African painted dog puppies that were born late last year, and a baby rhinoceros.