Spooky Fun Community Outreach
Boo at the Zoo is an annual event in which the Columbian Park Zoo is transformed into a family-friendly Halloween spectacular. With decorations spooky enough for a third grader, hay bales placed around the park to provide a cozy fall atmosphere, and nightly costume contests, you can’t leave this place without smiling.
On top of the events put on by the Columbian Park Zoo, Purdue Bands & Orchestras makes an annual appearance. The drumline, Goldusters, Golden Silks, All-American Twirling Team, and feature twirlers give up some of their free time to give back to the community.
This event is a lot more important than we probably realize. Personally, as a Golden Silk, I don’t always consider the performance as exhilarating as some of our other events throughout the year, and did not truly understand the value in what we were doing until I looked at the bigger picture. The seemingly tiny show takes on a whole new meaning when viewing it through the lens of community outreach. Many of the people in attendance of this event are from sections of the Lafayette community that Sometimes do not have the ability, whether it be for financial reasons or time commitment issues, to witness the spectacular shows that we bring to the Purdue community at football games. This small bit of our free time we give up allows these families to understand a little more about what we do, when otherwise they may never have been able to.
The night involves two sections of performances. The drumline kicks off the whole event with a string of cadences, followed by the different auxiliary groups switching off in between songs. As we sit on the hay bales surrounding the small performance area waiting to perform, we are able to watch our band family do exactly what they do best. It’s definitely a sight to be seen, and the location is autumnal to the highest degree with leaves falling to our feet and our breath visible in front of us.
The parents who bring their children to Boo at the Zoo obviously just want to see a smile on their children’s faces and often times ask us for pictures. As college students, this small gesture warms our hearts. Leaning down to take pictures with young kids who look up to us makes feel almost like celebrities.
The most rewarding part of the night, though, has to be when we take a break in between our two performances to go out into the crowd and engage with the kids who just watched us drum, spin, twirl, and dance. Drumline members are able to hand their sticks over to children and let them bang on their snare, tenor, and bass drums. Color guard members have miniature flags to hand out and use to give quick lessons on spinning. No matter what the kids do, we cheer them on with enthusiastic smiles and encouraging words. Seeing their faces light up when they are able to engage with the equipment that we just used in our performances makes the whole night worth it.
On the surface, this may not be the biggest event of our marching season. When we look a little closer, however, we can see how much this means to the greater Lafayette community. Within a few hours, we are able to share our passion for music and performing with children who may grow up to be just like us one day.
