San Diego Zoo Centennial Community Celebration Set for Saturday

SAN DIEGO, CA: A Centennial Community Celebration is planned Saturday evening at Balboa Park as the San Diego Zoo kicks off activities surrounding its 100-year anniversary.

Suspense is building around a large gift box that was delivered Wednesday to the Plaza de Panama, to be opened during the event that begins at 6 p.m. Saturday with fun family crafts, face painting and animal presentations by San Diego Zoo Global ambassador Rick Schwartz.

The Museum of Photographic Arts and the San Diego Museum of Art will be free to visit during the event, and the San Diego Zoo History Center, which features the exhibit "The Lore Behind the Roar! 100 Years of the San Diego Zoo," will discount admission by $2.

Guests will be invited to participate in setting a Guinness World Record for the largest group of people performing with hand puppets, at 7 p.m.

Beginning at 8 p.m., on the Spreckels Organ Pavilion stage, the San Diego Zoo will present a magical, musical extravaganza featuring Tony and Grammy award winner Heather Headley, with a 50-piece orchestra and a 100-member choir.

San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, City Councilman Todd Gloria and former San Diego Zoo ambassador Joan Embery will open the performance.

Earlier this week, the mayor declared that 2016 is "San Diego Zoo Year" in the city of San Diego and presented a proclamation that stated, in part:

" ... The San Diego Zoo was founded in 1916 as a sanctuary for wildlife, after Dr. Harry Wegeforth heard the roar of a lion following the 1915 Panama-California Exposition and established the Zoological Society of San Diego (now San Diego Zoo Global) on Oct. 2, 1916.

"San Diego Zoo Global now operates three world-class facilities, the San Diego Zoo, the San Diego Zoo Safari Park and the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research, through which the organization is able to work on conservation projects in 80 countries on six continents. San Diego Zoo Global has recovered and re-introduced more than 30 species into native habitats — including the California condor, Caribbean iguana and mountain yellow-legged frog."

To view the Zoo’s online historical timeline and get more details on centennial events, visit Sandiegozoo100.org.

(Photos: Rick Schwartz with Rio the parrot and Mayor Kevin Faulconer, San Diego Zoo Global Chairman Robert B. Horsman and San Diego Zoo Global President and CEO Douglas G. Myers; Rick Schwartz, ambassador, San Diego Zoo Global, with Rio, a double yellow-headed Amazon parrot, speaking about the Centennial Community Event on May 14 in Balboa Park.)