The Navajo Nation Zoo hosted its Fourth Annual ZOO FEST event on May 14, 2011. This event followed in the history of incredible large events at the Zoo. Like all previous events, admission and all the activities were FREE for everyone.

We are proud to say that this year's Zoo Fest was incredibly successful. The Zoo hosted over 3,300 people between 9am and 5pm. We saw many smiling, laughing faces throughout the day and left lasting memories for many people.

For Zoo Fest 2011, we brought back many of the favorite activities from previous one. One of the all-time favorites is the inflatable slide and jumphouses; these rides were busy from start-to-finish! Other old favorites included face-painting, balloon animals, coloring pages, long-jump and beanbag toss games. Several entertainers, like a magician and ventriloquist entertained the crowd throughout the day.

In addition to these old favorites, we introduced a few new activities, which turned out to be big hits! Children were offered the ability to create bead-animal crafts at one station, and foam crafts at another. Also, St.Michael's High Music Class offered free Native-American flute lessons throughout the day. They also performed on-stage several times for the audiance. We were very pleased at the success of these new activities.

We were also very pleased the the Honorable President Ben Shelly visited the Zoo around noon to provide an inspirational talk about the Zoo and its importance for the Navajo Nation.

Because of the large attendance and success of this event, we are looking forward to next year's FIFTH ANNUAL ZOO FEST, tentatively scheduled for MAY 5th, 2012.