Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo, Jr. announced that a new annual attendance record of 420,277 was set at Essex County Turtle Back Zoo on Monday, November 2nd. This is the fifth consecutive year the annual attendance record has been broken and the sixth consecutive year revenue figures surpassed the amount collected during the previous year. In addition, it marks the second consecutive year that revenue collected exceeded operating costs, meaning Turtle Back Zoo operates as a self-sufficient facility.
"We have made tremendous improvements to Turtle Back Zoo and the large turnout of visitors and high revenue figures show how popular our Zoo has become. The natural habitat exhibits along with our Carousel and Train Ride attractions make coming to Turtle Back Zoo a fun, learning adventure for children and families," DiVincenzo said. "We are proud that we were able to make the Zoo a self-sustaining facility. It is a tremendous educational and recreational resource for the community and now we are able to offer it without placing a burden on our budget," he added.
On Monday, November 2nd, DiVincenzo congratulated Steve and Melissa Mitas of Denville, and their 2-year-old daughter Claire, for being the family that broke the attendance record. They entered the zoo at about 10:30 a.m. Mr. Mitas had taken the day off from work to spend with his wife and young daughter. The couple’s older daughter, 7-year-old Alicia, was in school. "We really enjoy coming to Turtle Back Zoo. We had a birthday party for our older daughter and had a really great time," Steve Mitas said. "We never expected this when we left the house this morning. Alicia will be upset she missed this but she’ll enjoy the prizes in the gift basket," Melissa Mitas said.
The original attendance record of 211,044 was set in 1986 and is now the sixth-highest total. Attendance had fallen to an all-time low in 1995 when 119,995 people passed through the Zoo’s gates and was hovering around 165,000 people prior to DiVincenzo taking office in 2003.
As the attendance figures have risen over the last two years, so has the revenue. Through Monday, November 2nd, about $2.5 million in revenue was collected, which is the sixth consecutive year that revenue has increased. Before DiVincenzo took office, between $600,000 and $650,000 was collected on an annual basis. The Executive noted that admissions make up about 80 percent of the total Zoo revenue, whereas other zoos traditionally rely on admission revenue for about 30 percent of their funding.
Over the past two years, the revenue collected has exceeded Turtle Back Zoo’s operation budget of about $1.8 million. This is the second time in Turtle Back Zoo history that revenue generated exceeded the operating budget.
The popularity of Turtle Back Zoo has been buoyed by the new exhibits opened over the last several years. This summer, the Tam-ring Gibbons Exhibit featuring the Gibbons Ape, Reeve’s Muntjac and White Naped Crane from Southeast Asia opened. The exhibit was designed to resemble an ancient ruin in Thailand that was undergoing an archeological dig. The apes have plenty of opportunities to display their agility and excite visitors by swinging from the artificial vines and climbing on scaffolding. Other recent natural habitat exhibits feature kangaroos, wallabies, exotic birds, wolves, black bears, alligators, bobcats and penguins.
The County Executive has also introduced new revenue-generating attractions, including the Carousel and walk-through aviary featuring 500 exotic birds. Each carousel ride costs $2 per person and bird feed sticks cost $2. Both attractions opened last year and have generated $206,599 from carousel rides and $97,618 from feed sticks sold in new revenue during 2009. Another $43,610 was collected from $2 admission charged for pony rides and $25,765 was collected for souvenir photos taken at the zoo. In addition, about $30,000 was raised through admission charged for the first-ever summer camp at the Zoo.