For Blaze Credit Union CEO Dan Stoltz, supporting Como Park Zoo & Conservatory is all about making Minnesotans’ lives better

Meeting Sparky the sea lion is a memory that connects Minnesotans of all ages. Ever since Archie Brand’s seal training show made its debut at Como Zoo in 1956, the splashy aquatics show has been a fixture at Como, evolving through seven decades (and seven different Sparkys) to reflect an ever-deepening understanding of the fierce intelligence, fascinating behavior, and natural adaptations that make marine mammals so amazing. 

As Sparky and all the inhabitants of Como Harbor get set to dive into Como Zoo’s busy spring and summer season, Como Friends talked with one of her biggest fans, Dan Stoltz, the CEO of Blaze Credit Union, the member-owned cooperative that’s been the corporate sponsor of the Blaze Sparky Show since 2022. 

Tell us your own Como story. Did you visit when you were a kid?

Como is a really special place for me. I have so many great memories of my mom and dad putting us kids in the car to visit Como Zoo, getting up close to the animals, having a family picnic on the grounds, and seeing the Sparky show, of course. Growing up on the East Side of St. Paul, Como was an affordable place where we could come and have an awesome day. Now I’m blessed to have 11 grandchildren and we still come here regularly. I love seeing it all through their eyes now.

How did you become a Como Friends supporter?

Being involved in the community is something that came from my upbringing, and the idea that life’s about giving, not getting. That’s something we believe in at Blaze, really leaning into organizations that are impactful and influential in our community. Through friends, my wife and I started coming to the Sunset Affair gala and getting to know more about what was happening here. The fact that Como is free is important to this community. But the fact that it’s free and a first-class organization is what’s really amazing. That’s why they need local businesses and corporations to step up and say, “We want to be part of that.” When the opportunity to support the Sparky the sea lion show came up, it was one of the easiest decisions I’ve ever made in my career. It was just a perfect marriage. 

Why was that? What about Como’s mission resonated so much with you?

Many companies have really long mission statements and value statements, but ours is two words: Better lives. Our core mission is not about making more money, it’s not about being the biggest, we just want to help make peoples’ lives better every day. That’s what Como Park Zoo & Conservatory does every day—it’s about bettering Minnesotans’ lives. You see it every time you visit, the diversity here, people of all ages, and from all walks of life, from the metro area, or from outside of it. Como just feels like a place that really pulls us all together. 

Corporate sponsorships are an obvious benefit for nonprofits like Como Friends, but how do they benefit businesses like yours? 

Putting on my CEO hat here for a second, we just feel like it’s a duty of organizations and businesses to give back to the communities that they serve. It is a pay-it-forward commitment, and so we as a company are always looking for organizations that are really making large impacts on people’s lives and Como Park Zoo & Conservatory checked all of those boxes. On the promotional side, we want Blaze to be seen investing visibly in things that matter, but that’s not because we expect an immediate return on investment. But I think there is a kind of respect that comes from the public when they see that your business is investing in the community and doing things for the right reasons. All generations care about this, but it seems to be especially true with the younger generation, who are looking to do business with companies that really care. 

Como is nearly 130 years old, and the Sparky the sea lion tradition goes back nearly 70 years. What do you think keeps people coming back? 

I think it’s that anyone can visit, any day, any time. In the economy right now, the two key words are volatility and uncertainty. But at Como, you can count on it. When you walk into the Zoo to see the animals, or visit the Conservatory to see the gardens, you just know it’s going to be a great experience.

Understanding the art and aesthetic behind Como’s elegant potted trees

With more than 100 potted trees—including one specimen that’s more than 450 years old—the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory’s bonsai collection is one of the best in the Midwest with a diverse range of species and styles. But one factor that really sets it apart from other collections may be Minnesota’s harsh winters. “I think our collection may be grown in the coldest climate of any botanical garden collection in the country,” says Reva Kos, the horticulturist who’s shaped the collection for two decades. “In California, you’ll see bonsai everywhere, but here it’s more challenging.”

But by spring, when the risk of frost subsides, Kos starts selecting the best trees in the collection for their big moment in the Mother’s Day Bonsai Show, slated for May 9 and 10. A long-standing Como tradition produced in partnership with members of the Minnesota Bonsai Society, the two-day exhibit features some of Como’s best specimens in the Ordway Gardens’ indoor display and outdoor vitrines, as well as favorites from private collections. As the state’s bonsai aficionados are putting the finishing touches on their most treasured trees, Como Friends asked Kos to share her tips and tricks for bonsai beginners.

Asian Roots: Bonsai has roots that go back to China in 700 AD where crafting elegant potted trees or pun-sai was only for the elite. By the 1200s, bonsai had become a mainstay of Japanese horticulture, spreading through Europe and the West by the late 19th century. As a result, every culture has a favored style, from the densely “helmeted” trees you might see in a European collection, to the airier American style influenced by California bonsai master John Yoshio Naka, who believed branches must “leave room for the birds to fly through.” No matter where they come from, Kos says, bonsai are typically planted in a soilless mixture of pumice, lava rock, and akadama, a granular clay-like material mined from the volcanic soil near Japan’s Mount Fuji. 

Pick the Right Plant: Almost any woody plant or shrub can be formed into a bonsai, but Kos urges beginners to make sure the plant you’re choosing will thrive in the conditions where it will live. “Bonsai are plants, so they generally do best outside, but there are some species that do very well indoors,” she says. “You want to try to mimic the temperature conditions that woody or herbaceous plants would need to grow outside, so if you’ve chosen a plant that requires a period of cold and dormancy to grow, try to create that at home.” If you’re planning to keep your bonsai indoors, tropical and subtropical plants like ficus and podocarpus are good choices for home growing. Ready for a faster start? This month, the Como Friends Gift Shop is featuring dozens of beginner bonsai for purchase. (Como Friends members enjoy 15 percent off every purchase!)

Find Design Inspiration: There are dozens of different bonsai styles, each with their own aesthetic goals. For instance, the forest-style bonsai (Yose-ue) features multiple plants in a staggered formation to create the sense of a deep forest in fine detail. Other styles of bonsai try to recreate the look of a wind-swept tree struggling to survive (Fukinagashi), an upright plant reaching straight for the sun (Chokkan), or the dip and flow of a cascading river (Kengai). Check out Instagram, Pinterest, and other sites for visual inspiration, as well as the many bonsai blogs that provide tips about training these potted trees over time.

Be Patient, Not Precious: As Como’s resident bonsai guru, Kos has the rare ability to see what a tree will look like in five or ten years, training individual trees for years at a time. While this kind of gardening takes great patience, she cautions against being overly precious with your plants. “Anyone can start a bonsai, but it’s harder to learn if you’re afraid to touch it. I really enjoy pruning, so you just have to have the confidence to trim and prune in the way you want it to grow,” she says. “Take your time, because if you’re in a hurry, you can kill your tree if you try to do everything at once. But don’t be afraid to experiment because that’s how you learn the most. When you make mistakes, that’s how you become better.”

Grow Your Community: Once your bonsai hobby takes root, consider joining the Minnesota Bonsai Society, an all-volunteer group whose members have a long history of support for the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory’s public collection of bonsai. “We have a mutually beneficial exchange, where they help provide volunteers who help us with our collection, while we help generate public interest in bonsai,” Kos says. “The Minnesota Bonsai Society is a great resource and their members are very helpful and excited to share their knowledge.”

With pollinator-friendly plantings and more sustainable landscape practices, horticulturists at the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory are role-modeling the ways you can invite more wildlife into your own backyard

Last fall, as the growing season came to a close, horticulturist Robin Takahashi made a point of keeping the Skipper Garden between Como Zoo’s bird yard and the orangutan habitat in a careful state of decay. Rather than raking up leaves and cutting dead foliage, she kept plant skeletons in place over the winter in hopes of creating an inviting home for the Dakota skipper (Hesperia dacotae), a critically endangered butterfly that was once native to Minnesota’s tall grass prairies. 

“Skipper butterflies, when they’re caterpillars, will wrap themselves up in a blade of grass and nibble on it, so you might never know they’re there,” she says. “Cutting back ornamental grasses in the fall can wipe out their habitat, so instead, I leave about 6 inches of grass into the spring.”

Skipper Butterfly photo taken by Volunteer for the Minnesota DNR

Encouraging Como visitors to invite more pollinators into their own backyards and landscapes is part of the mission of this year’s Party for the Planet, Como’s weekend-long Earth Day celebration powered by Xcel Energy, scheduled for April 25–26. But it’s also become a growing part of the design plan for the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory’s outdoor gardens. In recent years, Como’s been making a quiet but critical evolution toward more sustainable practices—both to attract the birds, bees, butterflies, and other pollinators that signal a healthy ecosystem, and to mitigate the present and future effects of climate change.

“Plants can get stressed out by the changes in climate that are really abrupt and dramatic,” explains Como’s Bryn Fleming, the horticultural supervisor who oversees all of the Conservatory’s exterior gardens. “For instance, as we’ve seen more really heavy rain in June over the last couple of seasons, a lot of home gardeners may be noticing that their lilacs are getting really cranky, and are more susceptible to a fungal disease that’s more prevalent when things are super wet and warm.” 

As Como horticulturists encounter these trends, they’re taking a close look at the care, feeding, and cultivation of every corner of Como’s 18-acre campus to ensure the flowers, plants, shrubs, and trees they install this season can be sustained for the long term. “It’s a process that every gardener should probably be doing right now,” Fleming says, “starting with the question, how much time do you actually have? How much water do you want to use, and how often? Are you planting something that’s prone to disease, and will you have to use chemicals to keep it looking great? In a way, it’s about being more realistic about what will last, and rethinking some of our choices as we go forward.”

That approach is well underway in the Minnesota Garden that greets visitors at Como’s front door. Originally installed a decade ago with native and adaptive plants, horticulturist Marie Day has been leading the garden’s evolution toward exclusively native plants, which have the advantage of requiring less water, and being more drought tolerant. 

The Enchanted Garden, opposite the Conservatory’s historic entrance, is also undergoing a shift. “In the past there has been a heavy reliance on traditional annual bedding plants, which require heavy amounts of weekly watering,” says assistant gardener Jake Frechette. “Now we are highlighting the power of perennials and self-sown annuals, and we also leave this garden standing over the winter, as the spent stems and leaves provide cover and the seedheads provide food over winter for the critters.”

Frechette has also been reimagining the steep slope around Como’s Frog Pond as an ornamental meadow, adding clover, wildflowers, and spring bulbs to a hard-to-mow section of traditional turf, while creating more inviting viewing spaces where visitors can spread a blanket. “It’s a great example of how you can turn your turf into a multispecies collection or garden,” says Fleming. “A lot of people are interested in moving away from grass in their lawns toward plants that can harbor more birds and insects, but it can be hard to envision. This is a great way of showing visitors what grass looks like when you don’t cut it and start incorporating other species.” 

All around Como Park Zoo & Conservatory, visitors may also notice new plantings of parsley, cilantro, dill, and fennel—ideal host plants for supporting black swallowtail caterpillars. “We are treating it as a little experiment, to see which herbs the local butterfly population prefers,” says horticulturist Rylee Werden. “While it’s more commonly known that adult butterflies need flowers for nectar to eat, those same insects need host plant foliage to eat, so planting extra herbs this year is a great way to support butterfly habitat throughout the season, and through their whole life cycle. It might help make gardeners less upset when a caterpillar is chomping their garden to know it will turn into a beautiful butterfly.”

Every Wednesday morning, Como volunteer Paul Storch arrives hours before Como’s public opening, drains the water from the pool at the center of the Palm Dome, collects the coins visitors have tossed in through the week, and contemplates “Crest of the Wave,” the beaux arts bronze created by sculptor Harriet Frishmuth. 

While the sculpture, famously modeled more than a century ago by the dancer Desha Delteil, has been delighting Como visitors for decades, Storch takes a more critical view. A retired museum conservator, he dusts and details the iconic artwork, while studying how the statue’s wax coating is standing up to the elements, noting where minerals and moisture might be building up. From there, he’ll go on to clean and polish the bronze plaques and brass kickplates all around the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory, one of the most beloved buildings on Minnesota’s roster of sites on the National Register of Historic Places.

Taking care of Como’s treasures is a team effort that requires the collaboration of Como’s maintenance staff, horticulturists, community volunteers, and outside contractors. Earlier this winter, all of those forces came together to tend to Como’s two most iconic sculptures, “Crest of the Wave” in the Palm Dome, and “Play Days” in the Sunken Garden. 

1). When decades of wear and tear split the copper tubes feeding water to the bubbling frogs on “Play Days,” Como entrusted their replacement to KCI Conservation, a Minneapolis-based art conservation firm. Following a short stay in the studio of conservators Laura Kubick and Kristin Cheronis, the statue was returned to the Sunken Garden for a coordinated treatment and training session about caring for the fountain bronzes.  

2). Como horticulturist Bryn Fleming helps give the statue a full cleaning, removing accumulated grime and buildup on the metal. During the process, older wax is stripped from the statue to allow conservators to reapply a new protective layer. 

3). Using a propane torch, conservators gently heat the bronze surface and apply a thin coat of hot wax. Once it dries, the surface is buffed for a second coat of cold wax. This layered wax system can protect the statue from moisture and other irritants for a year or longer.

The goddess of spring is the spark behind the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory’s latest flower show

The Marjorie McNeely Conservatory’s new horticultural curator, Ray Watson, takes a storytelling approach to plants, and for this season’s spring flower show, they’re finding inspiration in an ancient tale of love, loss, and renewal—the Greek goddess Persephone. Maiden of flowers, queen of the underworld, and goddess of new growth, Persephone’s story is so strongly rooted to the rebirth of spring that Watson couldn’t resist using this Greek myth as the creative spark for their first seasonal flower show in the Sunken Garden. 

Bringing a sustainability-driven and artistic lens to the exhibition, Horticulturist Rylee Werden and Horticulture Curator Ray Watson contribute a vision that pairs environmentally conscious practices with expressive planting design, and flower choices. Their work highlights innovative uses of seasonal materials, thoughtful resource stewardship, and immersive compositions that reframe the Sunken Garden as both a literary story and a living work of art.

“When you’re designing for this room, having a theme is an interesting creative challenge that forces us to work within the constraints of the story we’re trying to tell, and to narrow the plant options in a way that allows [visitors the chance] to really focus on some new and possibly unexpected choices,” Watson says. The show is the first in what will be a full year of seasonal flower shows all organized around the idea of the “Magic of Como,” from a fantastical  Alice in Wonderland–inspired summer flower show, to a mystical witch’s garden planned for autumn. “I prefer art to have a narrative that explains what the creator wanted to show and tell, and with stories like these, there are so many aspects we can illustrate through our flower selection.” 

Here’s how some of the flowers and features you’ll see in the spring show are connected to Persephone’s ageless story, told from Homer’s time to Hadestown. 

The first half of the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory’s Spring Flower Show runs from March 20 through April 26, and is free to every visitor thanks to your contributions to Como Friends. Thank you!

After a major meet-cute in Polar Bear Odyssey this fall, young polar bears Astra and Kulu have been giving serious rom-com vibes—diving, chasing, frolicking, and cozying up to each other on the regular. While zookeepers are seeing plenty of green flags in the lead-up to the polar bear breeding season that starts this month, this match is just one of many playing out behind the scenes at Como Zoo, through its active role in a variety of Species Survival Plan (SSP) projects in cooperation with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). By coordinating the individual animals matched up through SSP breeding recommendations, Como Zoo works in partnership with other AZA institutions to maintain a genetically diverse and demographically stable captive population of threatened or endangered animals. While bearing young is an important part of a healthy life cycle for zoo animals and wild ones, these pairings also provide captive animals with companionship that can enrich their lives.

In honor of Valentine’s Day, we talked with Senior Keeper Jill Erzar about what makes a great partnership, whatever your species:

Taking it slow: Ollie and Stevie, and Meadow,
Sago and Ziggy

Unlike the polar bears and other animals that come from harsh climates that dictate their optimal mating moments, Erzar says, “nyalas tend to breed like rabbits.” Even so, Ollie, a new male bachelor recently arrived from the BREC’s Baton Rouge Zoo, may need a little time to warm up to his new breeding partners, Stevie and Meadow. Stevie is the mother of Meadow, born in 2024. “He’s never been with another female besides his own mother,” Erzar explains. “Ollie is very alert, and Stevie seems very interested, so we’ll have to see what happens with each of the females.” 

Speaking of slow, Como Zoo’s sloth pair, Sago and Ziggy, have successfully mated once, and zookeepers continue to remain optimistic that they will again, following last year’s on-exhibit birth of an infant that sadly did not survive. While Como Zoo always hopes for new babies, zookeepers are encouraged by previous successes and moments that support the long-term future of each species, and take great care to ensure every animal has the space, privacy, and calm they need during these important mating stages. “We weren’t surprised that she gave birth—we were expecting that,” Erzar says. “But sloths are more reclusive and will typically give birth overnight.” 

Keeping it playful: Maji and Mumford

Introduced as a breeding pair in 2019, Como Zoo’s male and female lions are happily bonded, though they’ve had no offspring. While Mumford is in hospice care for an inoperable nasal tumor, he and Maji continue to wrestle, play, and cuddle up together. The only real bone of contention between them, says Erzar, is Mumford’s “comfort log,” a bit of deadfall that the lion refuses to share with Maji or his keepers. “We call it his comfort log because we first started noticing that he’d carry it around if there was a storm coming, or if he was a little nervous about something,” she says. “Over time it’s been whittled down, so for a while it looked like a dumbbell, and now it’s broken into two pieces that he protects. It’s kind of adorable.”

Attention to good grooming:
Ombe and Wicket

While breeding behavior has yet to be observed between ring-tailed lemurs Ombe and Wicket, “they do sleep together and groom each other,” Erzar says. “They’re definitely companionable.”

Making beautiful music together: Houdini and Mutambi

As light on their feet as Fred and Ginger, grey crowned cranes Houdini and Mutambi have been delighting Como visitors with their ritualistic courtship dances, bowing and leaping into the air as a sign of their mutual interest in each other. “They also do a kind of call and response vocalizing, parroting back and forth, with a kind of trumpeting sound,” says Erzar. While the pair has yet to produce a viable chick, early fertility challenges are typical of new pairings of cranes, which often mate for life in the wild. “We’re pretty confident they’re going to figure it out,” she says.

Sharing the child care: Reggie and Ilsa 

Emperor tamarins Reggie and Ilsa have also mated successfully, resulting in the arrival of baby Bleu last March. Male tamarins are known for being highly engaged fathers, often assisting with birth, taking and washing the infant immediately after birth, and frequently carrying the infant to let the mothers recover and nurse. Communal rearing behavior like this even extends to future siblings like Bleu, who can be expected to do plenty of babysitting.

You can’t hurry love: Mr. Pancake, Peanut Butter, and Banana 

Like all of Como Zoo’s breeding companions, this trio of pancake tortoises, now living behind the scenes, are under no pressure to reproduce. While they’re part of a Species Survival Plan breeding recommendation (and have names that would make a great breakfast), keepers don’t do anything special to encourage mating behavior between animals, allowing nature to take its course. “We’re very hands-off with them,” says Erzar. “If they want to lay eggs, they can lay eggs. Whatever happens with the pancake tortoises is great.”

This season’s Winter Flower Show brings color and light into Minnesota’s most beautiful room

When Como Park Zoo & Conservatory posted a preview of the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory’s new Winter Flower Show on social media, designer Isaac Zaman braced himself for a possible backlash: His first-ever flower show design coincided with the Conservatory’s plans to remove the Italian cypress that have long stood at the far end of the Sunken Garden.

“One of the issues we’ve always had with the Sunken Garden is that it’s not bright enough for many plants, and changing the room structurally actually lets in more light,” he says. “But we know people can get very attached to the way things have always been, so we were kind of nervous about what people would say. About half of the people who commented were like, ‘Why would you do that when they’ve been there forever?’, and the other half were like, ‘Oh, interesting…can’t wait to see what comes next.’”

The current Winter Flower Show, now on display through March 15, features a mix of old favorites and new featured plants, with a cool palette of South African veltheimia bulbs, lavender azaleas, pink and white camellias, tropical hibiscus, and more. “I wanted to pay homage to some of the history that’s happened in the room by bringing in some of our accent plants, jasmine topiaries and some lemon cypress. But I also wanted to move the room in a new direction where our interests can always be changing,” Zaman says.

One of the less familiar flowers visitors may notice are Love-in-a-Mist, Nigella damascena.

 “They’re a wonderful aromatic crop that also has these really funky flowers that look quite alien, and if they manage to go off and bloom in the room it’s going to be something very new,” he says. Visitors may also notice the brighter feel of the room, and vignette arrangements that invite viewers to take in the room at different elevations.

“My goal is to bring it all closer to the people, and to add vertical elements to the lower parts of the room that makes you appreciate the size of the space, and the light,” he says.

Behind the scenes at Como Zoo’s Animal Support Building, a cavy, a chicken, and a rabbit have created an unusual inter-species bond

One of the loudest, liveliest buildings on the campus of Como Park Zoo & Conservatory is one that visitors will never see. Located along the private service drive to Como’s back door is where you’ll find the Animal Support Building (ASB), home to nearly 200 individual animals representing more than 40 species. 

“It’s actually the most diverse collection of animals we have in one place,” keeper Brooke Johnson says about the ASB’s colorful array of residents, from the squawking pink flamingos waiting out winter in the central heating, to the tiny Panamanian golden frogs tucked away in a biosecure room. While the birds, reptiles, invertebrates, and mammals that make their home here come from all around the world, the common denominator that unites them is advanced age. “Some of them are animal ambassadors that retired from our education programs,” she says. “Although they are not all older, it’s a bit like a 55-plus community.” 

Of course, the demands of high-density, apartment-style living can make for some roommate arrangements you’d never see in nature. For instance, the Chilean flamingos that fly far below the equator share their space with several red-breasted geese that breed in the Siberian tundra. Hissing cockroaches from Madagascar live next to tarantulas from Brazil. But the strangest bedfellows in the building would have to be this threesome: Jasper, a rabbit, Bowie, a chicken, and “Cavy Crockett,” a Patagonian cavy, a hare-sized rodent from the guinea pig family. 

“A few years ago, we noticed that when they were allowed to roam, they tended to gravitate to the same spots and hang out together, and we found that when we moved them all in together, it just worked out,” says keeper Allison Pizel, adding that the communal living arrangement may be familiar to each of them. “Cavies live together in big groups in the wild, and domestic chickens tend to live in groups, and rabbits live in colonies, but here, they’re each the only one of their kind,” she says. 

The oldest of the trio is Cavy, age 13, who is now deaf, blind, and prone to stepping on Jasper the rabbit as he explores his environment. Their keepers report that while there is occasional squabbling, Bowie, the alpha chicken, keeps the peace and sets the boundaries. On occasion, the three animals can even be found curled up together in the morning. “It’s not the recommended arrangement, but it seems to work for all of them,” says Pizel. “And with animals this old, we want to keep things stable for all of them.”

In fact, geriatric care is a big part of the day in the ASB, which also includes many animals like Sassy the chinchilla, who were retired from the zoo’s ambassador animal program when it came to an end during the pandemic. Instead, Como made the pivot to virtual programs that allowed classrooms to see and learn from animal ambassadors online, while allowing resident animals to make their own choices about whether or not to visit other parts of the zoo. Como Zoo recently completed a formal assessment to determine which animals would participate in the animal ambassador program, based on their ability to travel safely and comfortably to other areas of Como. The program includes species-appropriate stations and enrichment designed to ensure animals remain comfortable in environments outside their normal habitat.

For instance, when Dilla the six-banded armadillo is looking for some excitement, she’s trained to step on a green mat in her habitat that indicates she’s up for being handled. Check out this video on Facebook of her holiday visit to the Sunken Garden, helping horticulturists dig up the soil before the Holiday Flower Show. When she chooses to sit on her red mat, her keepers know she would prefer to stay home and chill. The communication between Dilla and her favorite keeper runs even deeper: Johnson is such a fan of the armadillo that she helped get Dilla moved to Como Zoo from another AZA institution. The pair have known each other for more than 13 years.  

“We form real bonds with these animals because we’re with them more than our pets at home,” she explains, adding that keepers are always looking for ways to delight the animals in their care. To that end, Johnson and Pizel recently applied to Como’s animal enrichment committee for funding—supported by your contributions to Como Friends—to bring an oversized cat exercise wheel into Dilla’s habitat. “You wouldn’t believe how fast she can run, and then she goes back to sleeping for 18 hours a day,” says Johnson. “The hard part is that many of these animals are very old and they won’t be with us forever. But while they are, we want to make things as good as we can for them.”

A Letter from Como Friends President Katie Hill

Protecting and Improving One of Minnesota’s Most Iconic Institutions 

With nearly two million annual visitors in 2025, Como is Minnesota’s most visited cultural institution. Your contributions help us keep pace with maintaining and improving every corner of Como’s well-loved campus, from upgrading the sound system in Como Zoo’s bustling Aquatics Building, to improving the landscaping around Gorilla Forest, to bringing natural light into the small monkey habitats. 

Fostering Empathy Through Education

Did you know that knowing a zoo animal by name, and as an individual, can inspire conservation-minded behavior long after you’ve left Como? That’s one of the findings within a growing body of research about empathy-focused education, a nationwide movement that counts Como’s innovative education department as a leading partner. From the free field trips now offered to second- and fourth-grade classrooms across the Saint Paul school district, to the planning process behind updating the Leonard Wilkening Children’s Gallery, your support helps spark excitement about the natural world. By funding scholarships for school group programs and summer camps, your support also removes economic barriers to education, empowering the next generation to be great stewards of the natural world. 

Keeping the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory Growing

It takes nearly 10,000 bulbs to bring the Sunken Garden into full bloom for the Spring Flower Show, and that’s just one of five rotating shows Como visitors come to see every year. That’s why contributions to Como Friends are so important, providing for the purchase of new plant materials, shipping costs for new tropical plants and palm trees, and other specialized plant care materials. This year, your support also helped replace the grow lights in Como’s working Orchid House, and the purchase of additional planters to expand campus floral displays through all four seasons.

Compassionate Care for Animals at Como Zoo

Have you seen Chloe the sloth’s new habitat features? The new installations allow Como’s free-ranging sloth to spend more of her time in Tropical Encounters, while keeping her safe from contact with visitors. Investments like this help Como Zoo provide more compassionate care for more than 1,000 animals, supporting everything from a new zero grade pool installation for future grey seal pups, to a portable anesthesia machine and a forced air Bair Hugger system to provide even more on-site veterinary care to elderly animals like Nan and Neil, two of the oldest polar bears in North America. Whether it’s buying more specialized vet supplies, supporting endangered Wyoming toads, or ordering fun new enrichment toys for young polar bears Astra and Kulu, your support helps keep Como Zoo’s animals healthy and curious. 

As you can see, contributions of every size are valued at Como, and invested in the animals, plants, and programs that inspire nearly two million annual visitors. Thank you for all you do for Como!

Katie Hill

President

P.S. When you become a member of Como Friends, you’ll be invited to great events and experiences that give you an inside look at Como, including a special Blaze Sparky Show just for supporters, coming up on May 30, 2026. Hope to see you there! 

Como Zoo aquarist Gina Julio fulfilled a lifelong dream as a Conservation Champion, traveling to Fiji to support marine conservation in the South Pacific reef

From  trout to tuna, marlins to mahi mahi, Gina Julio really knows her fish.

One of Como Zoo’s team of aquarists, Julio is responsible for the care and feeding of dozens and dozens of underwater denizens, including epaulette sharks, lionfish, sea anemones, and even a bright orange lobster who goes by the name of “Ryan.” 

“All areas of zookeeping have specific challenges, but I find the math and chemistry required to take care of fish to be really fascinating,” says Julio. “Also, once you start getting to know fish, you find out they’re so smart, and have great little personalities.”

Being on a first-name basis with so many different species made Julio a very valuable addition to a marine conservation initiative in the South Pacific run by GVI, a travel-based conservation organization. As part of Como Friends’ Conservation Champions program, Julio recently traveled to  Dawasamu, Fiji, to help support a variety of projects the group operates in the area, ranging from preserving the coral reef, to protecting spinner dolphins, reef sharks, and sea turtles. 

As a support volunteer at GVI, Julio helped a corps of primarily college-aged interns dive into their first experiences with conservation fieldwork. For two weeks, she took part in a range of work, from surveying the health of mangrove forests, to studying the challenges of establishing sustainable fisheries for local communities. Her favorite contribution was creating a detailed fish identification guide that will allow the group to collect even better data about the health of the South Pacific reef. “And I made it waterproof, so they can actually use it underwater,” she says. 

As part of the trip, Julio also immersed herself in the life of a small fishing village, seeing firsthand how thoughtful conservation projects can benefit wildlife and the local populations that depend on them. “Staying in this small fishing village, we became a part of the community, going to church and going to community events with our hosts,” she says. “As an anthropology minor in college, I loved the chance to learn more about Fiji’s culture.”

Seeing the South Pacific was the fulfillment of a lifelong dream for Julio, who made frequent trips to Como Zoo as a kid. Though she once imagined herself taking care of large cats, internships at Duluth’s Great Lakes Aquarium inspired her with the beauty and diversity of life underwater. “When I started my internship, I was actually kind of afraid of fish, which seems really funny to think about now,” she says. “It was like exposure therapy and as I got to know fish, I got really interested. There are so many different kinds of fish, including ones we don’t know about yet because we haven’t explored the entire ocean. I find the vast mystery of fish is really appealing.”

Now the fish health and quarantine specialist at Como, Julio says that field conservation experiences made possible by the Conservation Champions program advances zookeepers’ understanding of the animals in their care and in the wild. “I’ve never worked at another zoo or aquarium that does anything like this, but it’s so important for zookeepers to go out and do field work,” she says. “We know a lot about captive animals, but to have that exposure to wild animals and data collection is important, because you need the whole picture to take really good care of your animals.”