Liven Your Spring with Nashville Zoo events, Part I

April showers. Easter. My birthday. All of these events get me excited about Spring. After this May, I’m sure you’ll have eventful occasions to construct your own list of exciting things in the Spring. My hope is that your list will feature some of the spring happenings at Nashville Zoo.

Nashville Zoo’s annual spring celebrations kicked off in April with Eggstavaganzoo and Earth Day Celebration. Both of which allowed the animals to get involved at each. It’s no secret that Nashville Zoo finds the coolest ways to incorporate animal enrichment while keeping the community entertained and informed. Below is a list of upcoming events at Nashville Zoo you don’t want to miss. Also, there’s a new exhibit you need to know about before your next visit!


1. Gardening Class (May 6)

Around this time last year, I wrote about the Davidson County Master Gardeners and the Nashville Zoo partnership. Just a refresher, the Davidson County Master Gardeners restored the gardens at the Grassmere Historic Home and host informal gardening sessions on canning, composting and organic gardening. These sessions are free with Zoo admission.

In fact, May 6th marked the last gardening session of the spring at the zoo. During the session, the Davidson County Master Gardeners focused on medicinal and culinary herbs.

After each session, Master Gardeners guarantee Zoo patrons will leave with a better understanding of gardening in Tennessee.

“Visitors can expect to leave with new knowledge. No matter how much they already know about a topic, they will always learn something new about that topic and any other questions they have…A big part of our mission is to educate,” said Andrea from the Davidson County Master Gardeners.

As a fairly new gardener, I can assure you it is always a good idea to link up with other skilled gardeners. You never know what questions you’ll have or difficulties you will encounter when trying to grow plants in your yard. You can never receive too much help.

Keep in mind the Davidson County Master Gardeners teach classes year-round so check their site for more details on those class dates and descriptions.


2. Avian Awareness Day (May 7) (International Migratory Bird Day 2017 is Saturday, May 13)

As a kid, I used to love finding Blue Jays and Red Robins in the backyard of my aunt’s East Nashville home. It was like a secret mission to find as many birds as I could. If I was lucky, I could whistle a mockingbird into revealing itself from a treetop through song. Luckily for Zoo patrons, Nashville Zoo’s Avian Awareness Day saves them the winded labor in spotting cool birds and identifying their possible travels to during climate change.

On May 7th from 10am-3pm, Nashville Zoo celebrated International Migratory Bird Day early with their Avian Awareness Day. While there, attendees heard from Zoo Keepers on cassowary, flamingos and saddle-billed stork birds and conservation needs of specific birds. Avian Awareness Day offered kids and adults wing span comparisons to specific birds and an opportunity to meet some of the Zoo’s ambassador animals.

For more details regarding Avian Awareness Day at Nashville Zoo, visit Nashville Zoo. For more details on International Migratory Bird Day, visit their site for details.

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3. 25th Annual Golf Classic (May 8)

Golf is something I’ve never taken out the time to learn. With summer around the corner, I just might try my hand at it on a nice, sunny day. Sounds like a plan! I digress.

Leave it to Nashville Zoo to find a way to blend the zoo and golf. The 25th Annual Golf Classic is a tournament event that supports Nashville Zoo. The tournament will be held at the Golf Club of Tennessee in Kingston Springs. If you are a golfer and would like to participate, be sure to register yourself or your team at Nashville Zoo. Registration Fees are as follows:

$400 per player
$1,600 per team

Special thanks to the sponsors of this event! Sponsorship helps keep this event going so please contact Sarah Lingo at slingo@nashvillezoo.org to support or get more sponsorship information. Visit Nashville Zoo for more details about this event.

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4. Rockin’ for Rhinos Conservation Concert (May 11th)

That’s right, Nashville Zoo knows how to jam with a purpose. Echoing the call of many national conservation organizations, Nashville Zoo will host it’s Second Annual Rockin’ for Rhinos Conservation Concert on May 11th at Mercy Lounge. The Second Annual Rockin’ for Rhinos Conservation Concert will have live music and the Nashville AAZK chapter.

The Nashville AAZK is a volunteer organization of professional zoo keepers and other citizens at Nashville Zoo dedicated to professional animal care conservation. This team of remarkable people will not let anything stand in their way of bring awareness to local and national conservation projects and natural resources and animal life preservation. 

As the name implies, Rockin’ for Rhinos Conservation Concert will benefit five endangered rhinoceros species. According to the World Wildlife Fund organization, “Today very few rhinos survive outside national parks and reserves. Two species of rhino in Asia-Javan and Sumatran-are Critically Endangered. A subspecies of the Javan rhino was declared extinct in Vietnam in 2011.”

You can change this!

Please support conservation benefit events in Nashville! Successful conservation efforts increase species populations, changing their status from Endangered to Vulnerable and so on.

Tickets are available online at Nashville Zoo’s site or at the door. Visit Nashville Zoo for the musical artist line-up and more information.  

Like Nashville AAZK on Facebook to read more about their conservation efforts and more.

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