SEATTLE—Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoo raised approximately $2.36 million at its 49th annual Jungle Party held Friday, July 11 – the Zoo’s signature annual fundraising gala. The funds will help enable the zoo to update animal habitats, support its Fund Our Futures campaign, and fund one of the zoo’s most ambitious and sustainable projects to date: the Forest Trailhead.
Separate to Woodland Park Zoo being the region’s largest zoo, at 92-acres and over 800 different animals species, it has a more direct connection to Lynnwood with Woodland Park Zoo President and CEO Alejandro Grajal calling it home.
Woodland Park Zoo’s first Jungle Party began in 1976 as a potluck but has now grown to hosting about 1,000 guests a year: featuring up-close animal encounters, appetizers prepared by some of Seattle’s most prominent chefs (including former board member Ethan Stowell), auctions, games, and a four-course sit-down dinner.
The zoo has three primary revenue streams; earned revenue (admission, concession, concerts, parking, and so on), memberships (Woodland Park as the largest membership family in the Puget Sound with about 35,000 members), and annual operating support from the City of Seattle through a public/private partnership.
The Zoo also receives funding through the King County Parks Levy which is up for renewal this year. King County residents will have the opportunity to continue supporting their local zoo, and parks, by voting yes on Proposition 1 this August 5.
The rest of the Zoo’s funding comes from philanthropy (about 20% of its annual budget) which makes events like Jungle Party supremely important to continue its conservation efforts and keep its animals happy and healthy by providing updated, stimulating, and constantly changing exhibits to keep the scenery fresh and new for species who may be used to changing environments.
According to CFO Sarah Valentine, the zoo depends on events like Jungle Party to offset having two major federal grants revoked, and the dip its experienced in revenue from Canadian tourists.
“In years like this the zoo really looks to philanthropy to balance the scales,” Valentine told the Lynnwood Times.
Jungle Party guests also contributed more than $1.42 million toward the zoo’s Fund Our Future Campaign which opens meaningful doors for new young people in the community by giving them the tools they need to become the next generation of conservationists. This includes school field trips, STEM-focused summer camps, and internship programs.
“By attending the event and giving generously to Fund Our Future, you’re helping us build a zoo that remains accessible for everyone in our community, makes critical advancements in sustainability and provides the highest quality of care for the animals who call Woodland Park Zoo home,” said Valentine.
A large portion of the money raised at Jungle Party will also help bring Woodland Park Zoo’s upcoming new attraction, the Forest for All and Forest Trailhead, to completion. When the new exhibit opens in 2026 it will include a canopy path – a two-story elevated pathway offering breathtaking views of the park while tree kangaroos and red pandas traverse the surrounding branches, a central pavilion which will house boisterous keas, tree-dwelling reptiles, colorful amphibians, and fascinating invertebrates, and usher in a new conservation effort.
Woodland Park Zoo has been involved with its Tree Kangaroo Conservation program for over 25 years, which includes the zoo working with community members in Papua New Guinea (where the tree kangaroo is endemic to) to help protect forests from mining and logging, to ensure tree kangaroos (an endangered species) have the necessary environment to flourish.
Tree Kangaroos have not been on exhibit at Woodland Park Zoo for over 10 years and now they will have an incredible, brand new, home that will also teach visitors about the zoo’s efforts to sustain their species.
The zoo has partnered with local coffee roaster, Café Vita, to plant coffee trees within the shade of these forests, the beans will return to Seattle for roasting and will be sold at the new exhibit.
“[The new exhibit] helps people realize that not only is this great work happening and when you come to the zoo you help make that possible, but every day when you go home and you make a choice those choices are connected to the forest,” Rebecca Whitham, the zoo’s Chief Engagement Officer, told the Lynnwood Times. “Questions like where did my coffee come from, do I need that extra piece of paper. Just those little things in our lives that we don’t necessarily connect to these bigger causes but are simple, small, changes we can make.”
John Borgmeyer, Director of Exhibits and Maintenance at Woodland Park Zoo, who designs all of the exhibits at the zoo, added that the inspiration behind the Forests for All Exhibit was blending the forests of Papua New Guinea with the natural, lush, forestry of the Pacific Northwest.
“The Pacific Northwest is known for its beautiful forests, and we have the great ability to be out in the forests on a daily basis and the forests that we save here are no different than the forests that we save in Papua New Guinea,” said Borgmeyer. “So, it’s helping people understand that the actions we take at home have a worldwide impact and we, as a conservation-led organization, growing the empathy between humans and animals will help save the planet and bring us closer to nature.”
At Friday’s event, which began at 3 p.m. after the zoo was closed to the general public, guests could walk the grounds, receive private tours of the exhibit, get up close and personal with animals, enjoy hors d’oeuvres, cocktails, wine, and beer, win bottles of wine by playing a carnival-style ring toss game, and learn more about the zoo’s conservation efforts from its various tents.
Beginning at 7 p.m. guests were ushered into a tent for a four-course dinner, prepared by Lisa Duper catering, before an auction and paddle race.
Some of Woodland Park Zoo’s upcoming summer events include ZooTunes Summer Concerts (Elvis Costello, Devo, Regina Spekter, Wilco, Japanese Breakfast, Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals, Tramples by Turtles and Shakey Graves, Men I Trust, Waxahatchee, and Gillian Welch & David Rawlings), as well as an all-inclusive, 21+, day at the zoo on July 26 which includes all you can eat food, beverages (nonalcoholic), unlimited carousal rides, caricatures, face painting, and temporary tattoos, and access to over 800 animals.
Author: Kienan Briscoe
