Como Friends marks a major fundraising milestone thanks to community support from people like you

Created by visionaries and volunteers more than a century ago, Como Park Zoo & Conservatory has always relied on community support to keep this public treasure growing. Since 2000, that’s also been the mission of Como Friends, the nonprofit fundraising partner behind major improvements like Como Harbor and Polar Bear Odyssey, and countless behind-the-scenes projects that help Como’s professionals do more for the animals and plants in their care. 

Thanks to the extraordinary generosity of people like you, Como Friends has just reached an important milestone, securing more than $50 million in private donations to preserve Como’s historic campus, improve visitor amenities, update animal habitats and gardens, and expand education programs—all while preserving the free admission that welcomes nearly 1.8 million visitors each year.

“When Como Friends started 23 years ago, it would have been hard to fathom that a little start-up organization could someday raise more than $50 million,” says Jackie Sticha, who has served as the nonprofit’s president since its founding. “But we had a big vision for what was possible at Como Park Zoo & Conservatory, and were able to engage some incredible community leaders who helped us to kick off the organization, and to grow our work year after year.”

“Como’s transformation over the last 20 years is really rooted in this great public/private partnership,” says Michelle Furrer, Como Park Zoo & Conservatory’s director and campus manager. “Having Como Friends with us at the table at the start of every project has been a real benefit when it comes to the design process and value engineering of our capital improvements. They can see where we’re going to have challenges, and it helps them to be a better advocate for us as they’re seeking additional funding from the community. There’s so much that Como Friends makes possible year to year, from small projects, to major repairs, to behind-the-scenes operational support. Como just wouldn’t be where it is today without their support.” 

Originally founded through the merger of several different fundraising and nonprofit groups, Como Friends has grown every year since its founding, expanding fundraising strategy and growing the retail operation at Garden Safari Gifts to keep pace with Como’s needs. From an initial contribution of $309,740 in 2000, Como Friends’ support has increased more than five-fold, with an average annual contribution of nearly $1.7 million each year—far more in years during capital campaigns the nonprofit has led. This commitment to Como’s daily operations has been critical to preserving the open-door policy at Como Park Zoo & Conservatory, one of the last major metro area zoos and botanical gardens that’s always free to visitors. 

“Through three critical capital campaigns, with strong communications and stewardship, and really fun events like Sunset Affair, we’ve been able to continuously expand the community of people who care about Como by showing them the impact of their gifts,” says Sticha. “While we’re proud of achieving our mission as a nonprofit, we’re also incredibly grateful to the members, sponsors, individuals, businesses, and corporate and foundation donors that have helped us succeed through their generosity, commitment and affection for this place. We want this community to understand that every size donation does make a difference at Como, and reaching this milestone is proof of the great things we can do when we come together.”

A destination that’s delighted more than five generations of Minnesota families, coming to Como Park Zoo & Conservatory is a memory that many of us share. While visionaries and volunteers have all had a hand in shaping Como Park Zoo & Conservatory over the decades, the most consistent force behind Como’s longevity has been community support from people like you. As a supporter of Como Friends, you’re helping to carry on a century-long legacy of advocacy and care that’s made Como Park Zoo & Conservatory the most visited cultural institution in the state of Minnesota. Here’s a look at some of the highlights of Como’s first 150 years:

COMO’S EARLY DAYS

1870s | Renowned landscape architect Horace Cleveland gives a speech at the University of Minnesota in 1873, urging cities to set aside land for public parks that would “provide working people with a physical space that would be a respite from the grim realities of the Industrial Era.” With a $100,000 private gift, the city of St. Paul purchases three hundred acres on the shores of Lake Como, a one-time potato farm renamed for the Italian vacation destination by a clever real estate developer.

1880s | The city of St. Paul hires Cleveland to develop plans for a public landscape park, and forms the first St. Paul Board of Park Commissioners. To bring his vision to life, Cleveland invites Frederick Nussbaumer, a German landscape designer from London’s Royal Botanical Garden at Kew to join him in St. Paul. 

1890s | Nussbaumer is elevated to superintendent of the St. Paul parks, where he spends the next 30 years creating the parkways, pedestrian paths and public gardens that we know today. As a series of animals are donated to the park beginning in 1897, Nussbaumer also designs Como’s first animal enclosures for deer, elk, foxes and even buffalo. 

Exceptional floriculture displays like Gates Ajar, the Banana Walk, and the Victorian Water Gardens are Nussbaumer’s forte, drawing visitors from across the region. One writer of the era hailed Nussbaumer for turning Como from “a worse than useless mud hole” into the “pride of St. Paul.” 

1900s | Como’s Japanese garden tradition has roots that go back more than a century to when an early parks board commissioner, charmed by the Japanese garden at the St. Louis World’s Fair, purchased plants, shrubs and sculpture from the display for transplanting on the shore of Como’s Cozy Lake. Several of the stone lanterns seen in today’s Charlotte Partridge Ordway Japanese Garden came from that original donation. 

1910s | With a growing array of greenhouses at Como, many in need of repair, Nussbaumer proposes building a single Victorian glass house Conservatory, similar to the Palm House at Kew Gardens.  Built from a prefabricated kit, the 60,000 square foot Conservatory opens in 1915 with a total cost of $65,000. 

1920s | Como’s animal and plant collections continue to grow, with the donation of an American black bear, and new horticultural additions including the Excedra and the Frog Pond, both made possible by private gifts to Como. New parks superintendent George Nason oversees the creation of the new Sunken Garden, which begins to host rotating flower shows starting in 1927. 

1930s | The New Deal ushers in an expansive new era at Como, with a series of buildings created by the Works Progress Administration, including the Old Barn and the former Monkey Island. Scores of new animals also arrive thanks to donations from the St. Paul Zoological Society and the closure of the Longfellow Gardens Zoo in Minneapolis. Celebrity animal collector Frank Buck, the star of such films as “Bring ‘Em Back Alive,” is on hand for the 1937 dedication of the Main Zoo Building–now the home of Como Friends’ offices. 

1940s | After World War II, Como reemerges as an entertainment destination for families, with pony rides offered in the park, and the launch of the amusement park that we now know as Como Town. 

MID-CENTURY MOVEMENT

1950s | In 1956, the arrival of “Archie Brand’s Seal Show,” arranged by businessman Stanley Hubbard, turns Sparky into an instant celebrity. Meanwhile, Como’s first zoo director, John Fletcher, makes room for gorillas, orangutans and Siberian tigers, and the giant Galapagos tortoise a whole generation of children will know as “Toby.” 

1960s | As the Twin Cities explore the potential for developing a major metropolitan zoo, a 1966 Citizen’s League report concludes that Como lacks the acreage and resources to serve the state’s growing population. Como’s community disagrees, spawning such support groups as the Citizens Volunteer Committee, the Como Zoo Docent Association, and the Metropolitan Zoo Emergency Committee, all dedicated to keeping Como open for all. 

Caption: An agave Americana, or century plant, bursts into bloom in 1963, with shoots that reach so high the Conservatory removes a section of the roof to give it room to grow. 

1970s | Como’s Conservatory is added to the National Register of Historic Places, while the Minnesota Legislature approves $8.5 million toward Como’s redevelopment. Como Zoological Society incorporates as a nonprofit support group for Como in 1974. Nagasaki, Japan presents St. Paul, its sister city, with a garden design created by ninth generation landscape designer Masami Matsuda and the Ordway family provides the funding to build it in 1979.  

Caption: After giving countless piggy-back rides, Toby the tortoise begins a well-earned retirement at the Honolulu Zoo in 1974 where he resides today. 

1980s | Como Zoo earns its first accreditation from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, and Como begins a new era of construction, opening the Large Cat exhibit, the Aquatic Animal Building, the African Hoofstock habitat, and a remodeled Monkey Island into Seal Island. 

1990s | As Como celebrates its 100th anniversary in 1997, supporters focus on strategies to keep Como Zoo and the Conservatory growing strong. City leaders and community donors agree to unite the administrative operations of the zoo and conservatory, and to combine competing nonprofit support groups into a single nonprofit fundraising partner, the Como Zoo and Conservatory Society.

COMO FRIENDS: TRANSFORMING COMO FOR THE 21st CENTURY

2000 | The Como Zoo and Conservatory Society launches a $32.5 million capital campaign to build a new Visitor Center that will connect the Zoo and Conservatory, combine operations under one roof, and create new classroom space to serve Como’s one million annual visitors. 

2001 | Private funding from the Como Zoo and Conservatory Society helps Como Zoo start a new operant conditioning training program for seals and sea lions, using positive reinforcement to encourage animals to cooperate in their own health care. The training program is so successful, it expands to include hundreds of animals at Como Zoo, from the western lowland gorillas to the Galapagos tortoises.

2002 | The Marjorie McNeely Conservatory gets a new name and a generous endowment fund created by the McNeely family. In her lifetime, Marjorie McNeely was a president of the St. Paul Garden Club and a long-time supporter of the historic Como Conservatory. 

2003 | The first major capital campaign for Como reaches its $32.5 million goal with nearly $8 million in  private sector contributions secured by the Como Zoo and Conservatory Society. 

2004 | New construction reshapes Como’s historic campus, with a new behind-the-scenes Animal Support Building, and a renovation that turns Como’s WPA-era zoo building from animal habitat to office space for Como’s campus leaders. 

2005 | Como unveils the new Visitor Center, uniting the historic Zoo and Conservatory with a single entrance and a shared mission.

2006 | The hang-out home of Chloe the sloth, Tropical Encounters opens to the public. An immersive rainforest habitat teeming with tropical plants, birds, fish and reptiles, Tropical Encounters is also the first habitat to combine the shared strengths of Como’s keepers and horticulturists.

2007 | New classroom space created by Como’s Visitor Center helps on-site education programs to grow more than six-fold. With summer camps, school group programs and other offerings, Como continues its evolution as a conservation classroom for families and field trip groups. 

2008 | Como Zoo and Conservatory Society changes its name to Como Friends, and launches a second major campaign to build a new wing to the Conservatory and a reimagined polar bear habitat at Como Zoo. Always a refuge during challenging times, Como will see its audience increase dramatically as visitors turn to Como’s free admission during the recession. Annual funds from private contributions to Como Friends also help to sustain a growing number of Como traditions, such as the five rotating flower shows in the Sunken Garden.

2009 | Support from Como Friends pays for growing partnerships between Como Zoo and conservation initiatives in the field, including orangutan survival projects in southeast Asia and amphibian preservation efforts for the Wyoming toad. 

2010 | A new and improved Polar Bear Odyssey opens to the public, spurring record-setting attendance of more than two million annual visitors.  Como Friends  also advocates to preserve $11 million in public funding for Gorilla Forest when lawmakers threaten to revoke funding.

2011 | Como Friends secures the $2.8 million necessary to start construction on The Ordway Gardens, a new horticultural wing to showcase Como’s exceptional bonsai collection and improve visitor access to the Charlotte Partridge Ordway Japanese Garden. 

2012 | Como Friends’ fundraiser ZooBoo celebrates its 25th anniversary, becoming one of the longest-running benefits for any Twin Cities nonprofit. 

2013 | In preparation for the new Ordway Gardens wing, Como Friends helps restore the Charlotte Partridge Ordway Japanese Garden to better reflect the original intent of designer Masami Matsuda by supporting the work of international garden consultant John Powell.

2014 | To continue the creation of more naturalistic habitats at Como Zoo, Como Friends provides funding for a make-over for the African Hoofstock building, and a design plan for a remodeled seal and sea lion exhibit. Thanks to generous supporters and a successful strategic plan, Como Friends’ fundraising capacity is up by more than 50 percent since 2009.

2015 | To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory, Como Friends leverages private contributions to match a Minnesota Legacy Fund gift toward the Centennial Garden, a new landscape garden next to Como’s Visitor Center.  Como Friends supporters also create a $1 million endowment fund to ensure the long-term horticultural care of the Charlotte Partridge Ordway Japanese Garden.  

2016 | Creating memorable, meaningful, close-up encounters with the natural world is one of the principles behind the new Giraffe Feeding Station. Funded in  part by contributions to Como Friends, this interactive learning feature now brings thousands of Como visitors eye-to-eye with the gentle giants in Como’s giraffe herd. 

2017 | After 30 years, Como Friends’ ZooBoo fundraiser comes to a close to make way for construction of the new Como Harbor habitat, a $21 million seals and sea lions habitat in the heart of Como. 

2018 | Como Friends launches Conservation Champions, a program that allows Como’s keepers, horticulturists and education specialists to bring their expertise to conservation efforts in the field. From saving orphaned seal pups, to tracking snow leopards in the wild, these real-life experiences also help to enrich Como’s conservation education programs. 

2019 | Como Friends celebrates its 20th year as Como Park Zoo and Conservatory’s nonprofit fundraising partner, having contributed more than $42.5 million to Como in private investments for improvements large and small. Thanks to your support for Como Friends, Como remains one of a few major metro area zoos or botanical gardens that is still free to every visitor. 

2020 | When COVID-19 forces a statewide shut-down, Como Friends increases its annual contribution to Como Park Zoo and Conservatory, to ensure stable operations and essential care of Como’s extraordinary animals and plants. Private support also helps complete the new Huelsmann Meditative Garden, the tranquil karesansui garden that now greets visitors to The Ordway Gardens.

2021 | With a splashy new amphitheater, saltwater pools, and underwater viewing areas, Como Harbor opens to rave reviews. The state of the art habitat, supported by public funding and private contributions to Como Friends, is now home to three species of pinnipeds, harbor seals, California sea lions and Atlantic gray seals. 

2022 | The new SPIRE Sparky Show splashes down at Como Harbor, while contributions to Como Friends help to fund a major renovation of the Aquatic Animals Building. Como Friends also launched Como Quest, a new conservation-focused fundraiser where multigenerational teams explore Como’s amazing animal and plant collections. Thanks to your generous support, Como Park Zoo and Conservatory has the resources to resume traditional operations, welcoming more than 1.8 million visitors a year to discover the wonders of our natural world. 

Already one of the most beautiful and contemplative corners of Como, the Charlotte Partridge Ordway Japanese Garden has been transformed by recent renovations that have made it a “rising star” among North America’s public Japanese gardens. The garden was the focal point for Como Friends’ 2020 all-virtual Sunset Affair, which marked the garden’s 40th anniversary—a milestone that’s even more meaningful if you know the garden’s long and winding history.

“All gardens wax and wane, depending on the times, the environmental conditions, the type of care and even the economy,” says former Como Horticultural Curator Tina Dombrowski. “But if they’re cherished and loved by the right group of people, a garden can become the heartbeat of a community. When a garden like this inspires the support of gardeners, caretakers and the local community, it can recover even stronger.” Here’s a look at how deep-rooted community connections and thoughtful cultural exchange have helped the Charlotte Partridge Ordway Japanese Garden grow.

Meet Me at the Fair: In 1904, Dr. Rudolph Schiffman, one of the original members of the St. Paul Park Board, traveled to St. Louis for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, and was so captivated by the Japanese exhibit that he persuaded Como Park supervisor Frederick Nussbaumer to create a Japanese-style garden on St. Paul’s Cozy Lake in Como Park the following year. Created with plant material that Schiffman purchased from Yukio Ishikawa at the fair, Como’s very first Japanese garden never took to the Minnesota climate and was closed within a few years. But the tea lanterns he brought back from the World’s Fair have endured, and guide the way for visitors in Como’s present-day garden.

“But if they’re cherished and loved by the right group of people, a garden can become the heartbeat of a community. When a garden like this inspires the support of gardeners, caretakers and the local community, it can recover even stronger.” –Tina Dombrowski, former Head Horticultural Curator

Lost in Translation: St. Paul and its sister city of Nagasaki, Japan have a relationship that goes back to the early 50s—even before President Eisenhower launched the sister city programs to promote international friendship and cultural exchange. In 1977, the Nagasaki delegation gifted St. Paul with a watercolor plan for a chisen-kaiyu (strolling pond) garden to be built at Como. But the aesthetic nuances of the Edo-period garden were quickly lost in translation when parks crews moved ahead with the work prior to the arrival of designer Masami Matsuda, a ninth generation landscape architect. Soon, Minnesota’s harsh winters cracked the lining of the reflective pool, visitors straying from the paths damaged the plants, and a recession forced the city to close the garden.

Happy Faces: Volunteers have always played an important role in the Japanese Garden, never more so than when a group of community gardeners and Como docents reached out to Matsuda-san and the Japanese delegation asking for their help in fixing the mistakes made during the garden’s initial construction, and learning more about the precise care and maintenance Japanese gardens require. Private fundraising helped to bring Matsuda-san back to St. Paul in the late 80s for a series of renovations, including a massive effort to reorient many of the river boulders around the pond to reveal what Matsuda described as each stone’s “happy face.” “Finding and placing each stone was a small drama,” retired Como horticulturist Joan Murphy remembers, noting that Matsuda and his assistant spent hours staring at each boulder and waiting for each to “speak” while work crews with shovels and cranes stood at attention. Their patience paid off with a more harmonious garden design, and a healthy rapport between the St. Paul and Nagasaki delegation, which came to celebrate the construction of the tea house and the garden’s reopening in 1992.

Where Everyone Is Equal: Designed to mimic a rustic and simple 16th century Japanese farm house, Como’s sukiya-style tea house embodies a Japanese aesthetic known as wabi sabi—a belief that transience, time, impermanence and imperfection add beauty to an object. Though the front doors of the tea house were enlarged from the original design of 5 foot 2 inches to 6 foot 7 to meet local codes, guests actually enter through a small square crawl-through door known as the nijiri-guchi. Bowing before entering is not just a physical requirement—it also signifies that all the guests of the tea house are equal.

Looking Back, Looking Forward: With the construction of The Ordway Gardens in 2013, attention turned to renovating the Japanese Garden for the next generation. Como Friends provided the funding to invite international Japanese garden expert John Powell to begin reimagining the garden with an eye toward the new vantage points created by the Huss Terrace, as well as the original design goals of Masami Matsuda. Over the last several years, Como’s horticultural staff have worked closely with Powell to prune overgrown trees, bring in new plant material, and create a more harmonious pathway through the garden. The latest improvement, a pine grove path that leads visitors out of the tea garden, has brought these renovations full circle. No longer will visitors have to double back on the garden’s pathways, a renovation that helps heighten the sense of solitude, spacial intimacy and contemplation the garden is designed to inspire.

What’s New: With support from Como Friends, the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory has added another new feature to the Japanese garden experience at Como. The Huelsmann Meditative Garden is a traditional karesansui garden of raked sand and rock that highlights the concept of yohaku-no-bi, or the beauty of blank space.

Story originally published July 2, 2020

Already one of the most beautiful and contemplative corners of Como, the Charlotte Partridge Ordway Japanese Garden has been transformed by recent renovations that have made it a “rising star” among North America’s public Japanese gardens. The garden was the focal point for Como Friends’ 2020 all-virtual Sunset Affair, which marked the garden’s 40th anniversary—a milestone that’s even more meaningful if you know the garden’s long and winding history.

“All gardens wax and wane, depending on the times, the environmental conditions, the type of care and even the economy,” says former Como Horticultural Curator Tina Dombrowski. “But if they’re cherished and loved by the right group of people, a garden can become the heartbeat of a community. When a garden like this inspires the support of gardeners, caretakers and the local community, it can recover even stronger.” Here’s a look at how deep-rooted community connections and thoughtful cultural exchange have helped the Charlotte Partridge Ordway Japanese Garden grow.

Meet Me at the Fair: In 1904, Dr. Rudolph Schiffman, one of the original members of the St. Paul Park Board, traveled to St. Louis for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, and was so captivated by the Japanese exhibit that he persuaded Como Park supervisor Frederick Nussbaumer to create a Japanese-style garden on St. Paul’s Cozy Lake in Como Park the following year. Created with plant material that Schiffman purchased from Yukio Ishikawa at the fair, Como’s very first Japanese garden never took to the Minnesota climate and was closed within a few years. But the tea lanterns he brought back from the World’s Fair have endured, and guide the way for visitors in Como’s present-day garden.

“But if they’re cherished and loved by the right group of people, a garden can become the heartbeat of a community. When a garden like this inspires the support of gardeners, caretakers and the local community, it can recover even stronger.” –Tina Dombrowski, former Head Horticultural Curator

Lost in Translation: St. Paul and its sister city of Nagasaki, Japan have a relationship that goes back to the early 50s—even before President Eisenhower launched the sister city programs to promote international friendship and cultural exchange. In 1977, the Nagasaki delegation gifted St. Paul with a watercolor plan for a chisen-kaiyu (strolling pond) garden to be built at Como. But the aesthetic nuances of the Edo-period garden were quickly lost in translation when parks crews moved ahead with the work prior to the arrival of designer Masami Matsuda, a ninth generation landscape architect. Soon, Minnesota’s harsh winters cracked the lining of the reflective pool, visitors straying from the paths damaged the plants, and a recession forced the city to close the garden.

Happy Faces: Volunteers have always played an important role in the Japanese Garden, never more so than when a group of community gardeners and Como docents reached out to Matsuda-san and the Japanese delegation asking for their help in fixing the mistakes made during the garden’s initial construction, and learning more about the precise care and maintenance Japanese gardens require. Private fundraising helped to bring Matsuda-san back to St. Paul in the late 80s for a series of renovations, including a massive effort to reorient many of the river boulders around the pond to reveal what Matsuda described as each stone’s “happy face.” “Finding and placing each stone was a small drama,” retired Como horticulturist Joan Murphy remembers, noting that Matsuda and his assistant spent hours staring at each boulder and waiting for each to “speak” while work crews with shovels and cranes stood at attention. Their patience paid off with a more harmonious garden design, and a healthy rapport between the St. Paul and Nagasaki delegation, which came to celebrate the construction of the tea house and the garden’s reopening in 1992.

Where Everyone Is Equal: Designed to mimic a rustic and simple 16th century Japanese farm house, Como’s sukiya-style tea house embodies a Japanese aesthetic known as wabi sabi—a belief that transience, time, impermanence and imperfection add beauty to an object. Though the front doors of the tea house were enlarged from the original design of 5 foot 2 inches to 6 foot 7 to meet local codes, guests actually enter through a small square crawl-through door known as the nijiri-guchi. Bowing before entering is not just a physical requirement—it also signifies that all the guests of the tea house are equal.

Looking Back, Looking Forward: With the construction of The Ordway Gardens in 2013, attention turned to renovating the Japanese Garden for the next generation. Como Friends provided the funding to invite international Japanese garden expert John Powell to begin reimagining the garden with an eye toward the new vantage points created by the Huss Terrace, as well as the original design goals of Masami Matsuda. Over the last several years, Como’s horticultural staff have worked closely with Powell to prune overgrown trees, bring in new plant material, and create a more harmonious pathway through the garden. The latest improvement, a pine grove path that leads visitors out of the tea garden, has brought these renovations full circle. No longer will visitors have to double back on the garden’s pathways, a renovation that helps heighten the sense of solitude, spacial intimacy and contemplation the garden is designed to inspire.

What’s New: With support from Como Friends, the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory has added another new feature to the Japanese garden experience at Como. The Huelsmann Meditative Garden is a traditional karesansui garden of raked sand and rock that highlights the concept of yohaku-no-bi, or the beauty of blank space.

Story originally published July 2, 2020

Already one of the most beautiful and contemplative corners of Como, the Charlotte Partridge Ordway Japanese Garden has been transformed by recent renovations that have made it a “rising star” among North America’s public Japanese gardens. The garden was the focal point for Como Friends’ 2020 all-virtual Sunset Affair, which marked the garden’s 40th anniversary—a milestone that’s even more meaningful if you know the garden’s long and winding history.

“All gardens wax and wane, depending on the times, the environmental conditions, the type of care and even the economy,” says former Como Horticultural Curator Tina Dombrowski. “But if they’re cherished and loved by the right group of people, a garden can become the heartbeat of a community. When a garden like this inspires the support of gardeners, caretakers and the local community, it can recover even stronger.” Here’s a look at how deep-rooted community connections and thoughtful cultural exchange have helped the Charlotte Partridge Ordway Japanese Garden grow.

Meet Me at the Fair: In 1904, Dr. Rudolph Schiffman, one of the original members of the St. Paul Park Board, traveled to St. Louis for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, and was so captivated by the Japanese exhibit that he persuaded Como Park supervisor Frederick Nussbaumer to create a Japanese-style garden on St. Paul’s Cozy Lake in Como Park the following year. Created with plant material that Schiffman purchased from Yukio Ishikawa at the fair, Como’s very first Japanese garden never took to the Minnesota climate and was closed within a few years. But the tea lanterns he brought back from the World’s Fair have endured, and guide the way for visitors in Como’s present-day garden.

“But if they’re cherished and loved by the right group of people, a garden can become the heartbeat of a community. When a garden like this inspires the support of gardeners, caretakers and the local community, it can recover even stronger.” –Tina Dombrowski, former Head Horticultural Curator

Lost in Translation: St. Paul and its sister city of Nagasaki, Japan have a relationship that goes back to the early 50s—even before President Eisenhower launched the sister city programs to promote international friendship and cultural exchange. In 1977, the Nagasaki delegation gifted St. Paul with a watercolor plan for a chisen-kaiyu (strolling pond) garden to be built at Como. But the aesthetic nuances of the Edo-period garden were quickly lost in translation when parks crews moved ahead with the work prior to the arrival of designer Masami Matsuda, a ninth generation landscape architect. Soon, Minnesota’s harsh winters cracked the lining of the reflective pool, visitors straying from the paths damaged the plants, and a recession forced the city to close the garden.

Happy Faces: Volunteers have always played an important role in the Japanese Garden, never more so than when a group of community gardeners and Como docents reached out to Matsuda-san and the Japanese delegation asking for their help in fixing the mistakes made during the garden’s initial construction, and learning more about the precise care and maintenance Japanese gardens require. Private fundraising helped to bring Matsuda-san back to St. Paul in the late 80s for a series of renovations, including a massive effort to reorient many of the river boulders around the pond to reveal what Matsuda described as each stone’s “happy face.” “Finding and placing each stone was a small drama,” retired Como horticulturist Joan Murphy remembers, noting that Matsuda and his assistant spent hours staring at each boulder and waiting for each to “speak” while work crews with shovels and cranes stood at attention. Their patience paid off with a more harmonious garden design, and a healthy rapport between the St. Paul and Nagasaki delegation, which came to celebrate the construction of the tea house and the garden’s reopening in 1992.

Where Everyone Is Equal: Designed to mimic a rustic and simple 16th century Japanese farm house, Como’s sukiya-style tea house embodies a Japanese aesthetic known as wabi sabi—a belief that transience, time, impermanence and imperfection add beauty to an object. Though the front doors of the tea house were enlarged from the original design of 5 foot 2 inches to 6 foot 7 to meet local codes, guests actually enter through a small square crawl-through door known as the nijiri-guchi. Bowing before entering is not just a physical requirement—it also signifies that all the guests of the tea house are equal.

Looking Back, Looking Forward: With the construction of The Ordway Gardens in 2013, attention turned to renovating the Japanese Garden for the next generation. Como Friends provided the funding to invite international Japanese garden expert John Powell to begin reimagining the garden with an eye toward the new vantage points created by the Huss Terrace, as well as the original design goals of Masami Matsuda. Over the last several years, Como’s horticultural staff have worked closely with Powell to prune overgrown trees, bring in new plant material, and create a more harmonious pathway through the garden. The latest improvement, a pine grove path that leads visitors out of the tea garden, has brought these renovations full circle. No longer will visitors have to double back on the garden’s pathways, a renovation that helps heighten the sense of solitude, spacial intimacy and contemplation the garden is designed to inspire.

What’s New: With support from Como Friends, the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory has added another new feature to the Japanese garden experience at Como. The Huelsmann Meditative Garden is a traditional karesansui garden of raked sand and rock that highlights the concept of yohaku-no-bi, or the beauty of blank space.

Story originally published July 2, 2020

While the historic Como Zoo and the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory are two of St. Paul’s most beloved cultural treasures, only 16 percent of Como’s average 1.7 million annual visitors come from the Capital City. “An even larger number of visitors, more than 400,000 every year, are actually from greater Minnesota, and 15 percent come from outside the state,” says Michelle Furrer, Como’s Campus Director. “The sheer number of visitors to Como makes clear that we’re an important part of the tourism economy.” In fact, a 2015 study from Sapphire Consulting found that Como annually generates more than $162.7 million in economic impact for our region, along with nearly 2,100 jobs.

Just as important to Minnesota lawmakers, says Furrer, was the strong public/private partnership between Como Friends and Como Park Zoo and Conservatory. “Seeking state funding is a competitive process because there are so many needs across the state,” she says. “Having a strong track record of success working with Como Friends to build improvements like Polar Bear Odyssey and The Ordway Gardens definitely strengthened our case. It showed legislators that we had the community support behind us to leverage additional dollars to achieve our goals with Como Harbor.”

“We’re so proud of what our supporters have made possible in Como Harbor,” says Jackie Sticha. “Generous philanthropic gifts and public funding mean that transformational improvements are possible at Como without compromising our commitment to free admission and barrier-free access for everyone.”

“It is our first visit here, and it is an amazing opportunity. We asked how much it was and they said it’s free. And I said, ‘Are you sure?” –Lionnel Djon, Thunder Bay, Ontario

THANKS TO YOUR SUPPORT COMO, IS FREE AND FABULOUS, 365 DAYS A YEAR

Admission is free. Parking is free. Children are free. Adults are free. Como Zoo is free. The Marjorie McNeely Conservatory is free. At Como, free means free.

Como was founded by visionaries and volunteers who foresaw the need for creating a public green space at the heart center of the Twin Cities. More than a century later, that vision has made Como Park Zoo & Conservatory the most visited cultural destination in the state of Minnesota, often welcoming nearly two million children and adults each year. With its historic architecture, significant horticultural collections and state-of-the-art habitats, visiting Como has been a shared memory for more than five generations of Minnesotans.

 But what’s truly unique when compared to other zoos and botanical gardens across the country is Como’s open door policy–free admission that’s made possible, in part, by your contributions to Como Friends. “Over the past 20 years, our successful public/private partnership has helped  protect the free admission this community cares about, and to introduce a whole new generation to the wonders of nature without any barriers to access,” says Jackie Sticha, President of Como Friends, the nonprofit fundraising partner of Como Park Zoo and Conservatory.  

We recently asked a few of Como’s two million annual visitors to talk about why kids need time in nature and what free admission means to them.

“My family and grandkids had the opportunity to spend the day at Como Park Zoo & Conservatory. It was the best day ever!

How wonderful that we could see and do so many things for FREE! We did make a donation. It made me realize how many wouldn’t be there if there was a big entrance and parking fee like so many other places. Everyone has a chance to go. That is so great!!

Thank you so much for giving families this memorable experience.” – Como Visitor

One of Como Zoo’s first female keepers, Marisa Paulat has spent 43 years loving and learning from large cats

Zookeeping was a male-dominated profession in the late 1960s when 11-year-old Marisa Paulat announced to her parents that she wanted to take care of the animals at Como Zoo. A decade later, when she was finally old enough to apply for a position, there were still just two women on Como Zoo’s staff, “and they made it clear they didn’t want to hire any more,” Paulat says, remembering the demanding physical endurance test she was required to pass in 1979 before she could be considered for the job.

“The idea was to weed out any women who were going to apply. But I practiced all summer running 50 yard dashes with a 50 pound sandbag on my shoulder,” she says. “I was not going to let them take this chance away from me.”

That tenacity helped earn Paulat her dream job caring for Como Zoo’s large cats, where she’s enjoyed a reputation for winning over felines too big to be toyed with. “If there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s breaking through to challenging animals that have maybe had some bad experiences in their lives,” she says. “Sometimes it takes months of perseverance, but if you leave me alone with them, I will break through.” Set to retire in late June after 43 years of service, Paulat recently sat down with Como Friends to share her secrets for making the world’s largest felines fall in love with her.

Zookeeping as a profession has really evolved over the last 40 years. What was it like when you started?

What surprised me when I first started was that it was more of a civil service job than it was about animal care, and there weren’t a whole lot of us on staff. So zookeepers were the jack-of-all-trades—we did the maintenance, we cleaned the buildings, we closed the gates, we did security, we made the public announcements, we answered the phone, we did the secretarial work, we got everyone off the zoo grounds at the end of the day. We counted the money from the pop machines and we weighed the big anaconda. If there was anything to do, we did it.

Your tenure also coincides with Como’s transition from being a small city zoo, to becoming an accredited zoo with a strong reputation for animal care.

Yes, one of the highlights of my career was being here from the very beginning and watching Como evolve the way it has. Como Zoo was supposed to close when they built the Minnesota Zoo—that was the game plan. But the neighborhood didn’t want that to happen, and instead, helped us to improve. I was part of the very first accreditation process with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums which was really hard work, and we’ve been continually reaccredited ever since. Enrichment is, in my eyes, the most important thing we can do for animals, and that began to grow at the same time new buildings were going up. The building that enabled the Zoo to move forward the most was the new Visitor Center in 2003—that’s when things just skyrocketed forward with higher-end functions like classrooms, and rental space for weddings, and a beautiful building for the community. Being able to reach out to the public like that helped us to move forward faster.

Teaching the public about what zoos can do to support conservation has also moved front and center at Como.

That’s really true. One of the things I’m very proud of is what we’ve done for cougars. In the old days, we had cougars that had come from people’s homes as pets, which is not something we want to encourage. When one of our cougars died of old age, I talked our zoo director into keeping the exhibit empty for a couple of years until we could rescue orphaned cougars from the wild. In the 1980s, U.S. Fish and Wildlife preferred to euthanize cougars that were orphaned in the wild, so I worked with another keeper in Oregon to convince them that cougar cubs from the wild would have good homes in zoos. Sienna and Sierra were the first two cubs we helped save from the wild, and now, of course, we have Ruby and Jasper. Every zoo in the nation now gets their cougars from the wild, and we don’t breed them because there are so many orphaned cubs that need rescuing. I’m very proud of what we did to convince them that zoos could be part of the solution.

During your career, you must have given thousands of keeper talks about large cats. Of the 40 known species of wild cats in the world, which kind are your favorite?

The striped and spotted ones, tigers and leopards, are the most beautiful of the cats. But after caring for so many African lions here at Como, I think they’re my favorite. They’re the only species that live in groups called prides, and watching the social interactions between the males and females, the whole family structure, and how the males actually help with cubs, I just find them the most fascinating.

You became an honorary member of the pride by raising one of Como Zoo’s most legendary lions, Mufasa, by hand from the time he was just three weeks old. How did that happen, and what kind of relationship did the two of you have?

His mother, Wynona, was a great mother to previous litters and other cubs who came after him. But she had a birth canal infection not long after he was born, and pushed him away and stopped feeding him. So it was my job to bathe him, and burp him and bottle-feed him until he could be reintroduced to his sister Savanna at about six months old and learn how to be a lion. When he was just a year old, he broke his leg while he was on exhibit, and I was able to talk him in on three legs to come into the building, because he trusted me. Every morning for 17 years when I walked in, he would vocalize and push his head against the mesh. I had the privilege of seeing the entire life of an animal, from beginning to end, in a way that most zookeepers will never get a chance to see. I was “Mom” to Mufasa until the day he died.

Very few humans will ever get to know a magnificent animal like Mufasa in quite the way you did. What are the secrets to building that connection with large cats, or with any other animal?

There’s only one secret—to love them so much. If you care about them so much, they know and they’re going to respond to that. And then every day after that, every action you take will be based on how much you care, and it’s going to be the right thing. You can’t go wrong then, because you’re working from your heart.

Have you ever had any close calls?

No. Never. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

So a prowling tiger or a roaring lion doesn’t intimidate you?

You should be intimidated! If you don’t jump, that makes them feel so bad. But you do get to the point where you expect it and you don’t jump as much. Though every once in a while they’ll try to catch you off-guard.

Any parting advice for your fellow zookeepers?

Yes! I always tell people to squeeze the clicker and not the reinforcement. Never park under the snow leopard habitat unless you want your car to have a very special snow leopard smell after you leave, besides that, my parking spot! Don’t ever move the spoon—my cat keeping colleague Hans will know what that means. Don’t Google “wild cougars in Minnesota”—you have no idea what will come up! Look out for Nicholas, the tiger ghost. Cats aren’t the only ones who like benches. And, find enjoyment every day you have here at Como—it’s a special place.