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A line of colorfully costumed children and their parents, some also in Halloween garb, formed along the sidewalk outside the Santa Barbara Zoo starting at 5 p.m., a full half-hour before the gates opened for the popular Boo at the Zoo, which began its three-night run Friday and continues Saturday and Sunday.

Between 4,000 and 6,000 visitors are expected to attend “Boo,” making it the tricounties’ largest Halloween event.

“It all depends on the weather,” said Dean Noble, the zoo’s marketing director. “If it stays nice, the attendance goes up.”


Twenty-five local nonprofit and community groups set up trick-or-treat stations throughout the zoo and hand out only candy that is free of palm oil or made from sustainable sources.

“Habitats of orangutans and Asian elephants are being destroyed to plant palms for the oil, and the range is expanding into Africa and South America,” Noble explained. “We all need to make better choices when buying Halloween candy in order to help the wild populations.”

A lot of Tootsie Rolls are distributed, as they are made without palm oil. Other companies, such as Nestlé, Mars, Hershey’s and Kellogg’s, use sustainably grown palm oil, so many other favorite candies were also on hand.

But at one table, a lady dressed as the Tooth Fairy was joined by two fellow local dental hygienists, who cheerfully handed out toothbrushes, tooth paste, sugar-free gum and floss.

“We are trying to offset the damage,” quipped Leslie Burdick, who wore a bright pink wig.

Most of the zoo’s animal residents are not on view at night, but nearby a zookeeper handled a three-foot long hognose snake, to the delight of young boys dressed as a Ninja Turtle, Captain America and a skeleton.

Duncan, the zoo’s popular T Rex dinosaur, greeted visitors in the courtyard and there were more than 70 costumed volunteers expertly made up to resemble other members of the animal kingdom, such as tigers and panthers, as well as pirates, princesses, monsters and mermaids. Still more members of the “Boo Crew” led the dancing on a hilltop stage, manned carnival games, and helped kids conduct mock veterinary exams on a stuffed lion.

A Scare Zone offered more intense frights, with zombies and other spooky characters inside the already shiver-inducing exhibit of reptiles, spiders and amphibians called “Eewww!” The Boo-Choo-Choo train, lit with LEDs, made a circuit of the zoo and had some not-too-scary encounters along the way.

Boo at the Zoo continues at the Santa Barbara Zoo, 500 Niños Drive, from 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. Saturday and 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $14 for adults, $10 for children ages 2 to 12 with a $1 discount for Santa Barbara Zoo members. Train tickets are $4 for adults and $3.50 for children, and sold at the Train Station. The zoo closes at 3:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Click here for more information.

— Julia McHugh is public relations director at the Santa Barbara Zoo.