Visitors enjoy snowy opening day at John Ball Zoo

​GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — It wasn’t the weather anyone planning to visit John Ball Zoo on opening day anticipated.

“We knew that it was predicted to be cold this week but, yeah, we didn’t really think we were going to be walking around in snow today,” Ezra Millen said.

Millen traveled from Cadillac to visit the Grand Rapids zoo with his son, Ezra.

“We were just looking for something to do for a couple days of spring break,” Millen explained. “We probably cut our trip just a little bit short just because we’re getting a little bit cold but it was fine.”

Samantha Alexander traveled even farther for a visit with her two daughters and fiancé.

“We’re from Kalkaska County, Michigan, and we come down here to show the kids all these wonderful animals they got and all these little displays that they have all over. It’s just a fun experience for everyone,” she said.

For Krista Holman, the snow was a welcome sight.

“We’ve been looking forward to this for about four months and I took the day off work,” Holman said. “The zoo is a big thing for us and we actually really wanted to come over the winter and do one of those tours to see the animals in the snow, but then we didn’t have much snow this winter, which we were bummed about. And then this opening day that we had planned, we got snow.”

Holman’s son, 4-year-old Drako Tica, couldn’t contain his excitement, sharing everything they got to experience.

“We feel lucky to have this 10 minutes from our house,” Holman said. “We have a membership so we come here a lot and it’s really helped cultivate his love of animals and his awareness.”

Visitors will see several changes at the zoo this year, including a new location for the John Ball statue. The 99-year-old statue has only been moved three times. Zoo leaders decided to move it outside the zoo gates again, to make it more accessible for visitors and to create space for a new exhibit.

The zoo will be open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily through the end of March. Starting in April, weekend hours will expand to 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Hours expand later in the season. The popular Lantern Festival will also return on April 10.

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