Janice Hoffman turned this tiger into a massive six-foot banner she now displays on her front yard with another big tiger banner on Longhorn Drive. Over 100 front yards have some sort of animal on display as part of the Canyon Lake Zoo.
Creative parents turn front yards into Canyon Lake Zoo
Daisy Scouts from Canyon Lake’s Girl Scout Troop 438 invite the community via individual signage made at their homes to the Canyon Lake Zoo which is being held throughout the Canyon Lake’s front yards. From left, top row first, are troop members Hadlee Card, Maggie El-Gohary, Lexi Witten, Kensington Cadovec, Jane Sellinger, Brooklyn Britton, Ayala Gminder, Addison Witten and Stella Carr. Photos courtesy of Sarah Card
Like most attractions and amusement parks, zoos throughout the country have closed as a result of the COVID-19 lockdown. Some creative Canyon Lake parents would not hear of it. For a few days this week, front yards throughout the community have been converted into exhibits for Canyon Lake’s children to visit.
The “Canyon Lake Zoo” opened yesterday, with children and families walking, riding and scooting around the lake searching for different animals. Adhering to the social distancing requirements the city has put into place, participants are wearing masks and not gathering, except as families living in the same household.
Over 100 households throughout Canyon Lake have signed up and each location has used great creativity to transform their front yards into zoo exhibits. There are blow up animals, stuffed animals, massive photos of animals and even a few live animal displays. The type of animal varies widely, as most are not duplicated, but they range from ferocious to sweet and very real to mythical.
The Canyon Lake Zoo is scheduled to close tomorrow, Saturday, May 2, according to Kenni-Marie Potter, who came up with the idea that has just exploded. She was inspired by her cousin’s neighborhood in Bonsall that put on a “zoo” activity for their town.
“I thought to myself, ‘if her community could put something like that on, Canyon Lake would love to do it’,” Kenni-Marie said. “We are so tight knit and really do live in a little bit of paradise.”
Kenni-Marie started by spreading the word to select friends about the event on Facebook last week. By Friday, those friends selected animals and signed up to participate. At that point over 60 people had signed up. Over the weekend she posted about the event on Canyon Lake Community’s Facebook page. By Monday, there were over 100 households in Canyon Lake signed up to participate in the Canyon Lake Zoo. Those who signed up started transforming their yards into a “zoo” for kids of all ages to peruse and enjoy.
Kenni-Marie also reached out to Tuscany Hills and invited them to join in on the event. Her plan and hope was to have all children who attend Tuscany Hills Elementary to be able to enjoy “the zoo” within the same time frame.
Girl Scout Troop 438, an all Daisy Scout troop, is also getting in on the fun. It is coordinating an outing to the “zoo” and the girls are earning a custom patch called “golf cart safari” for it. They will be doing a golf cart caravan around the lake to take in all the sights.
Prior to the troop’s outing, they will be having a virtual meeting where each girl will make a mask of an animal of her choosing to wear during their “Canyon Lake Zoo” caravan.
As each household signed up, Kennie-Marie and her husband added it to a detailed map and list of where that animal would be in Canyon Lake. An updated version of the map can be seen on Canyon Lake Community’s Facebook page by searching for “zoo.” The map includes a detailed legend of what animals are being displayed at which addresses. The list is even categorized by general location: North Gate, East Gate and Main Gate in order to make the adventure more convenient. For the latest information, type this hashtag into your browser: #CanyonLakeCovidZoo2020.