Date added: 2007-06-10
My husband and I came here for our 25th wedding anniversary and were really happy with your zoo. I love the location by the lake. The animals all seemed so happy and healthy. We really enjoyed our visit. Keep up the good work. Becky-Janesville, WI

Date added: 2007-06-14
I always loved watching the rhino keeper, Julia, give the rhino a shower/bath. She made it look so easy and was very brave too.

Date added: 2007-07-05
My favorite memories of the Racine zoo were the huge elephant that kids could climb on. I believe it had a place to put coins in to help the zoo. There were a few other animals to climb on, but I can't remember what they were. I also use to love to go ice skating on the zoo pond during the winter. Those days are long gone but I treasure them. Would you possibly have pictures of the old cement animals that were there? Thank-you, Karen Bazan

Date added: 2007-07-12
it was so kool i loved the monkeys they were my favorite

Date added: 2007-07-18
We lived only a couple of blocks from the zoo when I was a toddler. Daddy-daughter time was a walk thru the zoo. I still have old pictures of me sitting on the concrete animals statues that I always looked forward to climbing on. I live in the northwest now. A couple of years ago a trip to Wisconsin included a visit to the Racine Zoo with dad and my own toddler. The zoo has changed alot. I was disippointed not to find the statues. Still, the zoo is so beautiful and we had the nicest time revisiting an old tradition.

Date added: 2007-07-21
I just turned 60 and I remember coming to the Racine Zoo as a small child. There was an elephant "bank" on the grounds for donation for an elephant for the zoo. I would bring my children to the zoo also. One of our best memories was bringing pieces of bread to the little bridge over the pond and feeding the ducks and watching them and the carp fighting for the bread. My children are grown now, but we still talk about the ducks and carp!

Date added: 2007-07-23
i miss monkey island with turtles in the water surrounding it.. when i think of the racine zoo, i think of that.

Date added: 2007-07-25
A friend and I were rollerskating at the end of the day at the zoo, and we were by the elephant display and the trainer made her do tricks for us. This was in 83. We had a lot of fun with that experience. Denise Ensley Claremont New Hampshire

Date added: 2007-07-25
I went there with my husband a few years ago. I loved it. I bought a $1.00 ring from the gift shop. It never broke. I still have it after years...Your zoo is great. I now live in Colorado. I miss your zoo...Gail French

Date added: 2007-08-09
I moved out of Racine back in 1989. I was only 10 years old and I use to go to the zoo and see my favorite monkey Max every week during the summer and it was so much fun to see him put a show on for me at the zoo as a child. I also remember when going to the zoo was free and we use to ice skate on the pond during the winter months.

Date added: 2007-08-21
As a young girl my mom took my sister & I to ice skate on the duck pond in the winter. It was where I learned to ice skate. In the summer I have so many fond memories of feeding the ducks. My mom would buy us a loaf of bread to share with the ducks of the pond. We like going across the little bridge and throwing pieces of bread down to the ducks:)

Date added: 2007-09-23
MY NAME IS CHARLIE AND I AM 9 YEARS OLD AND MY BROTHER ZACH IS 6 YEARS OLD. I LIKED THE LIONS, ALLIGATORS, AND BIRDS. SINCERELY, CHARLIE AMBROSE

Date added: 2007-09-23
MY NAME IS ZACH AND MY FAMILY WENT TO THE ZOO AND I LIKED THE SNAKES, THE ALLIGATORS, AND GIRAFFES THANK YOU FOR LETTING US IN.

Date added: 2007-10-26
I REMEMBER GOING TO THE ZOO IN THE WINTER AND ICE SKATING ON THE POND. LIBBY -- VIRGINIA

Date added: 2007-10-28
I remember taking a ride around the north end of the zoo on Rasha, an elephant the Zoo had when I was a child.

Date added: 2007-10-29
I recall when I first saw the zoo. It was clean on the inside and all the animals were messing around, entrtaining people. I saw the orangutans for the first time on that visit. They made faces at me and as I laughed, he picked up a stick and twirled it like a band director. My parents were smiling, I was laughing even harder. Then I remember when the zookeeper came in to takl about them. I realized that these great apes were endangered and were going to die if they did not have help from the zoo. I finish on this note; there is no better place for the apes at that zoo because they have wonderful care and a happy life ahead of them.

Date added: 2007-11-15
My fondest memories are of climbing around on the tortoise and rhinocerous sculptures and running across the bridge to the aviary area and coming across peacocks with all their plumage on display. Barbara(Dresen)Juwa

Date added: 2007-11-29
I recently had my son's 7th birthday party at the zoo. It was great! The zoo ladies showed us a bunch of aniamals that everyone was able to touch! The kids loved touching the alligator the best! I would recommend everyone has a birthday party at the zoo. We had a WONDERFUL time!

Date added: 2007-12-29
The black panther - skating on the duck pond - being carried on my dad's shoulders so I could see over the rails and through the bars better - walking down to the beach below the bluff from the zoo - throwing peanuts to the monkeys - picnics - always a joy to go there (late 40's and 50's, we moved away in 1960)and happy memories now.

Date added: 2008-01-02
My fondest memories about the Racine Zoo is the life sized elephant and big turtle that I used to climb all over when i was a kid. Even though I was born in Racine when my dad was stationed there in 1955 We would return frequantly to visit family that lived there and still do to this day. Feeding the girrafs and other animals was fun too.

Date added: 2008-01-08
Dear Racine Zoo staff, A few weeks ago my husband, our daughter, and I came to visit your zoo. We were pleasantly surprised at the size and quality of your zoo. I expected it to be small and not have a diversity of animals. I was wrong. Not only do you have a wide variety of species, they are in very pleasant surroundings. I think your zoo is probably a hidden treasure. Everyone I have talked to in Madison had no idea it existed and couldn't believe such a fantastic zoo was so close by. The combination of clean, well kept animal housing, pleasant staff, and the location on the shore of Lake Michigan make this an absolute jewel. A family could easily spend a nice half day strolling the grounds and eating a picnic lunch along the lake. Racine must be very proud of their zoo. We will be back! Sincerely, Jody McIntyre Madison, WI

Date added: 2008-01-12
Up until they passed away in the early 1980s, my grandparents lived right behind what was then the bird house (their property is now part of the zoo). My family visited them almost every Sunday, which means we visited the zoo almost every Sunday! Spring was punctuated by the joy of watching ducklings frolic in the exhibit ponds. Summer's highlight was the combination of rides, music, and games that visited for the zoo's annual fundraiser. Autumn brought a more relaxed setting in which to visit our feathered and furry friends (especially the squirrel monkeys), and a switch from snow cones to popcorn. Winter, of course, meant skating on the main pond as well as checking on the animals. And one more benefit of visiting Grandma and Grandpa: when we stayed overnight, we were delighted to have exotic sounds (especially the male peacock's hee-owwwwwwwww! hee-owwwwwwww!) punctuate the experience.

Date added: 2008-02-08
I went to the zoo with my boyfriend Brett and that is where we fell in love....

Date added: 2008-02-22
I have been to Racine a couple of times.....n everytime i go itz really fun because i go with my whole family and we have fun looking at all the animals

Date added: 2008-03-10
I lived in Wisconsin (I am originally from Michigan) in 1995 one block west of the zoo. In the summer, I slept with my windows in my bedroom open and woke to the sound of the monkeys playing every morning. It was absolute heaven.

Date added: 2008-03-31
As a small child in the '40's, my uncle would push me the several blocks to the zoo in a stroller a couple of times a week. On one of those trips, the local newspaper took and published a photograph of me near the old peacock & phesant enclosure, a photograph the family still has. My own children were frequent visitors until we all moved from Wisconsin.