FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) – The Fort Wayne Zoo is celebrating its 60th birthday with a brand new event that’s letting people see the zoo in a whole new light.
Glo Wild will illuminate the zoo with a special lantern festival starting March 27. Before the gates open for the first time, Wild on WANE got an exclusive first look at the displays and the work that went into making it all happen.
“It’s going to be incredible when we open. They’re beautiful. It’s a great way to start the season and I’m really excited about them,” the zoo’s executive director Rick Schuiteman said. “I like to say that for our 60th birthday, we have 60 lanterns, but that’s lying. There’s way more than 60 lanterns. It’s amazing.”
It’s more like hundreds of lanterns. Set-up started March first when 14 truck loads of lanterns arrived.
Tianyu Arts & Culture is the company behind the lights. Their team does the set-up and maintains the lanterns during the festival.
“A small team stays behind to maintain the lanterns every night. If something doesn’t light up for some reason they can fix it. If a lantern tears for some reason they can fix it,” Schuiteman said…