Volume 2, No. 5. March 8, 2002
Thawinpawzin
The big risk planning an event around
the weather is that the weather sometimes does not plan itself accordingly to
your event. Thus was the fate that befell the Toledo Zoological Gardens in Ohio,
which rolled out its second annual Frozentoesen winter festival this year during
the region's second consecutive warmer-than-normal winter.
In this case, however, the uncooperating weather proved an even greater boon
for the zoo. Intended to drive visits in January and February, Frozentoesen
has "been even more successful this year because it's been so warm people
have been coming out here anyway," said Toledo Zoo Executive Dirictor Bill Dennler.
Attendance in January, assisted by the opening of a new wolf exhibit, outstripped
last winter's numbers. For February, the zoo surpassed its monthly budget projections
in the first week, Dennler said. "It's not that we're getting record crowds,
but the fact we're getting any is something. We definitely have spread the attendance
out into the winter."
Frozentoesen promotions included half-price admission every day, Hollywood children's
films, special weekend brunches and wine tastings. The festival's big kick-off
celebration featured a professional ice carving competition, and that day boded
the kind of winter the zoo was in for.
Typically, Toledo gets up to two feet of snow over the winter and temperatures
lodging below zero. This year, official snowfall totaled 4 inches (10 centimeters),
though Dennler believes only an inch fell at his zoo, and none of it stayed
on the ground. Not only did the thermometer seldom dip below freezing, it often
topped 60 degrees Fahrenheit (16 Celsius). Such warm weather, Dennler said,
"never used to be a worry in Toledo; never a possibility. We consider ourselves
pretty lucky."
But the champion ice sculptors were not so pleased. Their competition was marred
by rising temperatures, which started off around 30 degrees Fahrenheit (-1 Celsius)
on Friday and reached around 55 (13 Celsius) on Sunday, the day of the judging.
Sculptures' scores depended on when they were judged, Dennler said. "The judges
judge only by what they're looking at. If an arm falls off a statue as you're
looking at it, you have to judge it by that standard. We had a lot of arms falling
off that day."
But with upwards of 20,000 guests walking through the gate that weekend, Toledo
judged the enterprise a success.
