Case Study: cOLUMBIAN pARK zOO

Note: Visit occurred in July, 2023.

Have you ever heard of the Columbian Park Zoo in Lafayette, Indiana? Until three days ago, I hadn’t either. Neither had any of my Hoosier in-laws, most of whom live within an hour’s drive. But that proves my case for the strength of this Zoo as a true community asset: the zoo does not attempt to be a regional or nationally recognized tourist destination. They have not sought AZA or ZAA accreditation. They don’t have billboards on the highways (that I saw, at least). They don’t even have a dedicated parking lot. However, the Columbian Park Zoo is exceptionally good at doing what it seeks to do: serve the community of Lafayette, Indiana.

Nestled in Columbian Park between a brand new quasi-minor league baseball field, a large and comfortable playground, a splash park with a waterslide tower, and a park train, the six-acre Zoo invites families to explore and play seasonally—between April and October only. The Zoo features animals that are easy to maintain in the central Indiana climate; African penguins and otters are the flashiest species here. The Zoo also features a lovely barn yard with llama, miniature pony and goats (of course!), alongside the immersive Australia walk-about with Bennett’s wallaby, emu, and kookaburra (in a separate enclosure). The rare and engaging singing dogs round out an impressive Australian collection.

Despite being one of the oldest in the country—opened originally in 1908, most of the Zoo appears to have undergone recent renovation lending to its comfortable, clean, modern appearance. The updated Zoo is designed with true attention to detail—I noticed the use of different types of landscape rock along the guest pathway subtly indicating each zoogeographic zone. The newer otter and penguin habitats are beautifully composed with multiple viewing opportunities and utilize a palette of natural materials (variations of wood components, large natural boulders, gravel, grasses, decorative plantings) to soften an otherwise basic and inexpensive construction. Even the older areas of the zoo are designed cleverly with intentional variation of the visibility of habitats using creatively constructed wood privacy fencing with varying portal sizes from binocular-like ports to large windows.

The goat yard utilized a form of the sanctuary-buffer-interaction model used for dolphin interactions defining areas within the interaction yard where only animals could choose to go yet were easily visible by guests. The goat yard also thoughtfully sacrifices footprint size to provide goat exclusion zones around large mature trees which ultimately gain the benefit of shade in the yard.

Other details of note include a clever and perfectly scaled interactive water feature as the welcome to the zoo, featuring statues of animals along a river of rubberized surfacing with intermittent bubbler jets. This leads the guest to the stunning butterfly garden dotted with sculptures of frogs and caterpillars. Art seems to be an important element within the Zoo as well, with a particularly beautiful sculpture of otters at play.

Although the circulation in the zoo is admittedly confusing for a first timer, visiting all exhibits was easy to accomplish in an hour with plenty of time to engage with the many staff members seen throughout. We visited on a Thursday afternoon and watched the training session with the singing dogs—at which we were the only audience, chatted with the zoo teen about his Kenyan sand boa, watched the miniature pony get harnessed up for her daily walk, and even received direction on where to find the eagle in the exhibit from a staffer cleaning the viewing the window. That was easily the most interaction I’ve ever received at a zoo within a single hour, especially at a zoo of this size!

The entry building is new, efficient, and reflects the charm of rural Indiana. Interestingly, guests do not ‘exit through the gift shop,’ although the gift shop is large enough to allow such a thing. In fact, the zoo’s lack of focus on revenues may give a clue as to how this particular municipal zoo is such a lovely gem—the City views it as an investment for the residents, much like a city park without an entry fee. The Zoo’s admission is only $2 currently, and that charge is a recent addition added to improve security. Inside the Zoo, there are no snack bars or vending machines; you must buy your goat feed ahead of time so there’s no pressure to buy when you are inside the goat yard enjoying the goats even without purchasing feed; the gift shop is large and well-stocked, but again, no need to exit through it. Revenues here seem to be ‘nice to have,’ and not a directive of the zoo for survival.

And that may be a large part of the charm.

And it only works (I’m assuming) due to a city government who values their zoo as a resource for the residents and an active and engaged Friends board who are successful fundraisers for improvements at the Zoo. The small zoo has space for several more exhibits, and one of the historic buildings currently housing the limited collection of small primates needs a redo from an exhibition and habitat perspective.

However, despite the primate habitats looking out of date and quite utilitarian, most habitats are rich with enrichment and choice for the animals. This is another aspect of the Zoo with which I was very impressed. Every exhibit was thoughtful about choice for the animals in the built environment, offering shade, sun, varieties of substrates and vegetation, and multitudes of added daily enrichments from the keepers. The kookaburras’ aviary was filled with more toys and challenges than I think I’ve ever seen for any birds! And they seemed quite pleased with it—their laughing song could be heard throughout the zoo.

Laughter from guests could also be heard throughout as pop-ups and acrylic crawl-throughs were explored. It was clear that immersion or interactivity was a fundamental requirement of exhibit experiences. As was education, with wonderful, clear, and creative interpretation at every habitat alongside a slate of zoo programming, including the innovative adults-only summer day camp! (Save me a space—I’m coming next year to attend!)

These choices combine to create what I consider to be the best small city-run zoo I’ve ever experienced (from a guest perspective). A short length of stay (under an hour), lots of interaction opportunities with animals and staff, seasonal operations, low entry fees, no pressure to spend more money once inside, and a comfortable, safe environment all support targeted and intentional experiences aimed at repeatability for community members.

This can be accomplished by defining your target audience and your specific mission goals. What’s more, an intentional decision to only doing the things that are reasonable to accomplish really well with your current resources increases the likelihood of actually implementing these goals. In other words, recognize your current reality and don’t spread your resources too thin by doing too many things at once attempting to be all things to all people. In doing so, hopefully you’ll be creating a positive feedback loop whereby a strategic focus on city residents will build support in the community and thus provide resources back to the Zoo through fundraising and tax-based funding. As my travels have shown, this is easier said than done!