The Little Rock Zoo will be hosting its fifth annual "Hiland Dollar Day" this Saturday at which adults and children can visit the park for $1 dollar admission.
Zoo Director Mike Blakely announced the dollar day Thursday at a news conference outside the tiger enclosure. This event is sponsored by a donation of $10,000 from Hiland Dairy, which is just a portion of the $50,000 Hiland has donated to the zoo this year, zoo spokesman Susan Altrui said.
Walt Coleman, controller for Hiland Dairy in Little Rock, attended the announcement, congratulating zoo officials on the improvements he has seen since his childhood.
"I've been coming to this zoo for a long time, I've lived here my whole life and so I've seen the tremendous changes and tremendous improvements that have gone on at the zoo," Coleman said. "This is an opportunity for us and all the folks at Hiland Dairy to give back to the community."
Dollar Day will include special activities throughout Saturday, including talks with the animal trainers and two showings of the Animal Ambassadors show, Altrui said.
The news conference was followed by a showing of the now 8-month-old tiger cubs who, along with their parents, played with ice chunks given to them by the zoo staff. Kate Barszczowski said the tiger cubs were growing a little too quickly from their cute and cuddly infancies for her taste, and that they are all healthy and will soon be moving on to other zoos across the country while their parents stay in Little Rock.
Dollar Day will last from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and last admission will be at 4 p.m.