Summer Camp Themed ZooFari Ball

This year’s Zoofari Ball promises to be more fun than jumping off a dock, more exciting than flashlight tag, and more delicious than roasted marshmallows.

“Summer Camp” is the theme of this year’s fundraiser for the Santa Barbara Zoo, and over 625 “happy campers” are expected to frolic under the stars on Saturday, August 24 from 5:30 to 11 p.m.

Reservations for Zoofari Ball XXXIV: Summer Camp are available through August 16 and cost $350. Call (805) 962-5339 or visit www.sbzoo.org/zoofari to purchase online. Ages 21 and older only. This event is expected to sell-out.

“Zoofari has become the Zoo’s biggest fundraiser of the year,” says Zoo Director Nancy McToldridge. “People come back year after year because they know it is one of the best parties in town, and maybe anywhere. I’m looking forward to joining these ‘party animals’ who help support the Zoo’s animals.”

This year’s honorary event chair, deemed “Camper of the Year,” is Lady Leslie Ridley-Tree, who has attended more than 25 Zoofari Balls. In early years, Leslie and husband Paul could be spotted in jackets sporting all their commemorative Zoofari badges, and she continued that tradition following his death in 2005. She served as Zoofari Honorary Chair in 2008, was on the Zoo Board from 1993 to 2000. The Zoo’s Animal Kitchen is named for her, and the Zoo restaurant is the Ridley-Tree House.

Zoofari Guests are encouraged to wear khaki chic, a camp tee and cutoffs with knee socks, or other camp outfits. Merit badges, macaroni necklaces, hiking boots, and cargo shorts are also appropriate and safari attire is always welcome.

Camp activities are on the Zoo’s scenic hilltop, and include a silent auction, signature cocktails and open bars, a gourmet dinner by Rincon Events, and dancing to the Replicas.

Raffle tickets are also now on sale to win an 8-night/9-day vacation for two to Fiji, in the heart of the South Pacific. Only 200 tickets are being sold, at $100 each at www.sbzoo.org/zoofari .

This trip includes roundtrip airfare from LAX or SFO to Nadi on Fiji Airlines, helicopter transfer on Pacific Island Air and boat transfer on South Sea Cruises Luxury Catamaran. Also included are stays at Fiji Marriott Resort Momi Bay, Shangri-La Fijian Resort & Spa, and Matamanoa Island Resort; spa treatments at Senikai Spa; and a Vudu Lookout tour with Rosie Holidays. The raffle package sponsor is Robertson International Travel Consultants. Winner need not be present to win.

Zoofari Ball is designed by Behind the Scenes Event Design and is coordinated by Behind the Scene’s Lisa Carter-Alford along with the Zoo’s Nancy McToldridge and Taryn Choquette, and organized by a committee of community volunteers and Zoo staff.

The Silent Auction features trips, dining, jewelry, artwork, and special one-of-a-kind experiences including hand-painted artwork by the Zoo’s animals, a handmade giraffe quilt by artist Sandra E. Lauterbach, a behind-the-scenes tour of Lincoln Park Zoo’s Regenstein Center for African Apes in Chicago, a railroad trip onboard Rocky Mountaineer through the Canadian Rockies, a private charter aboard Condor Express¸ terrace dining at Jane downtown during Santa Barbara International Film Festival, and much more.