What Is the Virginia Zoo's 125th Anniversary Celebration?

Updated

The Virginia Zoo is marking 125 years since its opening in 1901 with a year-long celebration. According to the zoo's website, the milestone is being observed with "special events, discounts, giveaways, and more" spread across the year, along with content that shares the zoo's history. If you're planning a visit or wondering whether the anniversary gives you a reason to go, the celebration is the framing for much of what the zoo is promoting right now.

What the celebration includes

The site describes the anniversary program around four elements:

  • Special events tied to the 125th year
  • Discounts offered during the celebration period
  • Giveaways for visitors
  • History-sharing content, including blog posts about the zoo's past

The zoo frames the year as a way to "share and celebrate the many years of Zoo history" with its audience. The site points visitors to a dedicated celebration page to learn more.

How the anniversary shows up across the site

The 125th milestone isn't confined to a single page — it threads through several parts of virginiazoo.org:

Site area How the anniversary appears
Homepage "Celebrate 125 years of the Virginia Zoo" banner and a Learn More link
Blog Posts connected to the milestone, including "12.5 Ways You Can Support The Virginia Zoo In Our 125th Year"
Events calendar Upcoming events such as Member Perks Pass, Wild Babies, and Zoo Tales
Field trips Education programs promoted alongside the celebration

The blog post title "12.5 Ways You Can Support The Virginia Zoo In Our 125th Year" is a good example of how the zoo is tying fundraising and support messaging to the anniversary.

Events listed during the celebration

The site's upcoming events section shows dated programming, which is where the anniversary events and giveaways are most likely to appear:

  • October 01, 2026 — Member Perks Pass: "Visit the Zoo this fall for a chance to win..."
  • October 06, 2026 — Wild Babies: "Calling all 'Wild Babies' to the zoo!"
  • October 08, 2026 — Zoo Tales: the zoo's popular story-time program

A full calendar is available on the site for the complete schedule.

How to learn more

The site directs visitors to a celebration page via a "Learn More" link on the homepage banner. From there, you can find the anniversary programming, and the events calendar and blog are the two places where new anniversary content is most likely to be posted throughout the year.

If your goal is to catch a specific discount or giveaway, check the events calendar and the celebration page rather than relying on the homepage alone — the homepage highlights the theme, but the dated details live in the events section.