This weekend, people who wish to raise money in support of cancer patients can do so in a unique way — by running and spending time with miniature donkeys.

The American Cancer Society in Waco will host their first ever Donkey Dash, which is a 5K marathon, from 7 to 10:30 a.m. Saturday at the McLennan Community College Highlander Ranch on 223A Cobbs Ln., . Contestants can eat breakfast tacos, visit a corral of miniature donkeys and run or walk in honor of someone who has battled with cancer. Contestants may register at the event. The 5K run is $30 and the one-mile run is $25. Children may participate in the one mile run for $20.

According to walkjogrun.net, the miniature donkeys will be “fun and delightful, yes, but more importantly, reminding us of peace.”

Cherise Myatt, community manager of distinguished events for the American Cancer Society in Waco, said the American Cancer Society used to have a similar event in Waco, but it was with a corral of bulls instead of donkeys. That changed, Myatt said, when one year the bulls escaped from their pen. Now miniature donkeys owned by the Waco American Cancer Society event chairman, Duane Sulak, will be present for the event instead of bulls.

“We thought that was cute because it kind of blends in with the theme of MCC Highlander Ranch and the Cattle Baron’s Ball,” Myatt said.

There will be a live DJ at the run and food and drinks at the finish line, Myatt said. Everyone who signs up will also get a Donkey Dash t-shirt, which is included in the registration fee.

“Basically it’s a 5K/one-mile fun run, just like any other general 5K or one mile, but we’re going to add just a little bit of flare with the miniature donkeys,” Myatt said.

There will be an awards ceremony with medals for the winners of the run, Myatt said.

“Another thing we’re encouraging people to do is get a group of your friends together and run in honor or in memory of somebody who has faced cancer,” Myatt said.

Right now, around 100 runners and walkers are signed up and a lot of people will sign up on the day of the event, she said.

Last weekend the American Cancer Society had a skeet shoot event in Waco, Myatt said, and they were worried about the turnout to the event because of the recent tragedy in West, but the turnout was, in her opinion, good. The American Cancer Society in Waco raised over $5,000 that day, Myatt said. In light of these results, she isn’t expecting the West tragedy to keep participants from joining the Donkey Dash.

Cameron Park Zoo will host its annual Beasts ’N Blooms & Earth Day at 9 a.m. Saturday. This year, the zoo will have a special focus on how to protect bears. (Courtesy Photo)

This Saturday the Cameron Park Zoo will teach visitors about stewardship of the Earth, and specifically about how to protect a “Baylor” bear.

The zoo is celebrating Earth Day with its annual zoo event, Beasts ’N Blooms & Earth Day Too, and this year will have a special focus on the zoo’s black bears in honor of Baylor and a bear awareness week celebrated by members of the Black Bear Conservation Coalition in Texas.

Earth Day events will take place from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., said Connie Kassner, education curator for the zoo. Bear awareness events will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Twelve organizations, such as Keep Waco Beautiful and the Lake Waco Wetlands, will be at the zoo talking about Earth Day and encouraging visitors to take care of the planet and themselves, Kassner said.

A special portion of events will be dedicated to teaching visitors how to help preserve the Louisiana black bear. Bears are a passion of Krista Seeburger, a Cameron Park Zoo mammal keeper. She said she wanted the zoo to host a day where she could educate the public about the bears. Kassner said she is this event’s coordinator and mastermind. She found out about the bear conservation week that other zoos in Texas are recognizing.

Kassner said this focus on bears will be something relevant to Baylor students. Kassner also said the zoo will offer a $1 discount off the regular ticket price of $9 on the day of the event to Baylor students, faculty and staff with their Baylor ID.

“So we thought, OK, this is perfect. We have a zoo in Waco,” Kassner said. “Let’s go ahead and coordinate, and so we thought, OK, well, let’s talk about the bears, but then how do we get Baylor people to come out to the zoo on Saturday?”

There will be zookeeper talks about the bears and enrichment demonstrations at 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., Kassner said.

“Enrichment is anything that stimulates an animal mentally or physically,” said Rachael Chappell, a mammal keeper at the zoo. “Animals in captivity don’t have a whole lot to do for themselves that they would have to in the wild.”

The zoo provides the animals with food, shelter, medical care and companionship with another animals, and that can lead to a lot of down time for them, Chappell said, and in some animals that can manifest to boredom and pacing. Some animals can even self-mutilate, Chappell said.

For all animals at the zoo the goal is enrichment twice a day, and will consist of anything that stimulates any of the five senses. Spraying perfume for the animals to sniff and providing the animals with a puzzle-opening feeder are just two examples, Chappell said.

“It’s a passion for a lot of us. It’s a very important part of their daily husbandry,” Chappell said.

There will be a jar for donations to purchase future enrichment items for the zoo’s black bears, Chappell said.

Vocalists from Baylor Opera Theater perform “Underground Opera: The Roaring Twenties” in the Roxy Grove Hall on Wednesday, April 10, 2013. Baylor Opera will be performing the Roaring Twenties Cabaret April 12-13.
Travis Taylor | Lariat Photographer

The Prohibition era is returning to Baylor through Baylor Opera Theater’s exhibition of the “Underground Opera: The Roaring Twenties,” an event aimed to make opera more audience-friendly.

“I want to first of all present a program that is accessible to everybody,” said Octavio Cardenas director of Baylor Opera Theater. “Sometimes people are kind of intimidated by opera. So this way we may be able to attract those kinds of people.”

Cardenas said he plans to carry out this goal with the repertoire. It centers on music from the Prohibition era and several decades beyond, with works from popular musicians of their time, including Cole Porter, George and Ira Gershwin, Irving Berlin and more.

To begin the evening, the Opera Theater will perform Joe Garland’s “In the Mood” followed by “Mack the Knife” from The Three-Penny Opera by Kurt Weill.

Other songs include “Someone to Watch Over Me” and “They Are Writing Songs of Love” by the Gershwin brothers as well as works by Berlin such as “Stepping Out with My Baby” and “Putting on the Ritz.”

“All of the songs tell a story; they are all like little mini-operas,” Cardenas said. “They require a very full voice and you have to be very expressive. I’m using this as a vehicle to make students more expressive on the stage and we’re doing it through English, which is their own language, which to me is the best way to learn how to be expressive on stage — in your own language. Another reason why we are using this repertoire.”

The pianist for the event, Stephanie Mettler, also acknowledges the difference of this opera in comparison to others. She said the event would show a side of opera that average people who do not typically listen to opera could relate to.

“It’s a compilation of love songs and other songs that show the underside of life,” Mettler said. “A lot of it is from the Prohibition era and I find it easy to connect with. It connects music to life.”

Mettler said the preparation has been intense. The Opera Theater began working on the show last fall and started rehearsing for it in February.

Last semester, The Opera Theater presented “Rita” by Gaetano Donizetti. Cardenas said it was well attended and that he hopes to grow this audience.

“We could always use more,” Cardenas said. “I really hope more people show up. We are trying to build an audience, and so far all of our shows have been very well attended.”
The push for a greater audience is to educate them on another art form.

Though opera may not be the most common art form in America, Cardenas said it is important for multiple reasons.

“To me, it is an art form that requires all forms of art,” Cardenas said. “Dancing, singing, music, theater, painting for the sets, costume design. It’s a very complete form of art.”

The “Underground Opera: The Roaring Twenties” starts today at 7:30 p.m. followed by another performance Saturday night at the same time. The event is free and open to the public.

This year Brazos Nights concert will feature artist Eddie Money. The concert will be held at 7 p.m. tonight at Indian Spring Park.
(Courtesy Photo)

For anyone wanting “two tickets to paradise,” this weekend, Indian Spring Park might just be the place, as Eddie Money will be headlining the Brazos Nights concert from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. today at the downtown venue. Opening for Money will be historic Waco musician Classie Ballou Sr. The concert is free and open to the public.

The Brazos Nights concerts have taken place in Waco since the late 1980s, said Jonathan Cook, who works in community promotions with the city of Waco.

Over the years, big names in music have performed for these concerts, Cook said. Many times the concerts have featured more country music, he noted. Some performers have been artists who later became big names in music but were not yet as famous when they performed at Brazos Nights, Cook said. Blake Shelton and the Dixie Chicks have played at Brazos Nights. Eddie Money is one of the bigger names that they’ve had perform, Cook said.

“Eddie Money obviously is a huge rock star from the ’70s and the ’80s,” Cook said. “For several years now we’ve wanted to get some classic rock artists onto the bill, and when it comes to name recognition, you don’t get much bigger than Eddie Money.”

Eddie Money has had hit songs like “Take Me Home Tonight” and “Two Tickets to Paradise.” He’s been featured recently in a Geico commercial. He still tours across the world, Cook said.
This is a concert that will appeal to multiple age groups, Cook said. Younger people respect Eddie Money because of the 1980s vibe and nostalgia of his music, while older people remember Eddie Money music from when they were in high school.

“So it sort of fits in with the vibe that we try to offer with our downtown concerts,” Cook said.

Ballou will play with his band before Money, performing with his own children and grandchildren, Cook said.

“Classie is, oh, I’d say 75 or 76 years old now, and has played all his life,” Cook said.

Ballou is known for blues and zydeco music, Cook said, which is a type of Cajun Louisiana blues. He’s originally from Louisiana and was a pioneer of zydeco, Cook said.

“Classie’s got a really interesting story. We’ve worked with Classie before. He’s lived in Waco an upwards of I think 40 or 50 years now.”

In the 1960s and 1970s Ballou played with artists such as Ike and Tina Turner. Any time a blues or R&B group came through Central Texas, Ballou always opened up for them with his band Cook said. Two weeks from now he’ll be in New Orleans playing the New Orleans Jazz Festival.

“He’s sort of an unknown treasure that we have here in Waco,” Cook said.

Historically, Ballou played at Walker’s Auditorium in Waco, which isn’t standing anymore, but in the 1960s and 70s it was a mecca of blues and motown artists, Cook said.

“There’s not really a festival in Waco that Classie hasn’t played,” Cook said.

Ballou will open for Money at 7:15 p.m. and Money will perform at about 8:30 p.m., Cook said.

Cook expects about 7,500 people to attend Saturday’s concert and encourages people to come early. It’s a free outdoor event with free parking around downtown.

Parachute lead singer Will Anderson is carried through the crowd of Baylor fans by a member of the Baylor Chamber during Diadeloso 2012 at Fountain Mall on Thursday, Apr. 19.
Matt Hellman | Lariat Photo Editor

A week before Baylor’s Diadeloso celebration, no headliner has been announced.

Diadeloso chair Pauline Minnaar said the delay was a publicity strategy to draw attention to the other events. However, a tweet from the band may have ruined the surprise.

A tweet posted Tuesday at 9:33 p.m. by Five for Fighting singer John Ondrasik announced Five for Fighting coming to Baylor for Diadeloso.

“Just locked in a last minute gig at @Baylor next Thursday Apr. 18th. What Up Bears? #54F,” the tweet read.

According to the tweet, the performance was booked last minute.

As stated in the Lariat article on Wednesday, Baylor Student Government had made it easier for Baylor Chamber of Commerce, who hosts Diadeloso, to secure funds to hire a headlining artist for Diadeloso.

Baylor Chamber of Commerce president TJ Hales declined to confirm or deny Five for Fighting’s appearance at Diadeloso.

At the time of publication Five for Fighting and his manager could not be reached for comment.

Shown is the Cira Centre, right, on Thursday, April 4, 2013, in Philadelphia. The classic Atari video game will come to life on the facade of the 29-story skyscraper. Hundreds of built-in LED lights at the Cira Centre will replicate the familiar paddles and ball. The effort is the brainchild of Frank Lee, a Drexel University game-design professor. Pong will be played April 19 and 24, to bookend an event called Philly Tech Week. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia is getting ready for a supersized game of “Pong” — on the side of a skyscraper.

The classic Atari video game will be re-created later this month on the facade of the 29-story Cira Centre, where hundreds of embedded LED lights will replicate the familiar paddles and ball.

Organizers expect hundreds of onlookers as gaming enthusiasts use giant, table-mounted joysticks to play from afar. The players will be standing on the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, a site that offers an unobstructed view of the office building from across the Schuylkill River.

“’Pong’ is a cultural icon, cultural milestone,” said Frank Lee, the Drexel University game-design professor behind the concept. “This is my love letter to the wonders of technology as seen through the eyes of my childhood.”

Despite the buzz the idea has received since being announced Wednesday, Lee said it took five years to find people willing to make it happen. He eventually met kindred spirits at Brandywine Realty Trust, which owns the Cira Centre, and at the online news site Technically Philly.

Now, what might be the world’s largest “Pong” game will be played April 19 and 24 as part of Philly Tech Week, the news website’s annual series of events, seminars and workshops spotlighting the city’s technology and innovation communities.

“This is one of the best things I could imagine that could make people aware that there’s something happening here, and bring more people into the fold,” said Technically Philly co-founder Christopher Wink.

Wink estimated about 150 people might play over the two days. Most will be chosen by a lottery, but some spots will be reserved for younger students enrolled in science, technology, engineering and math programs.

Among those playing will be 36-year-old Brad Denenberg, one of three winners picked at random during a Tech Week preview on Wednesday. Denenberg, who runs the tech startup incubator Seed Philly, confessed to some trepidation. He said he’s actually not a big gamer.

“My biggest fear is that I’m going to play against some 8-year-old who will destroy me,” Denenberg said.

In today’s gaming era of lifelike graphics — think “Call of Duty” — and colorful characters — think “Angry Birds” — it’s hard to imagine how the pixelated “Pong” qualified as revolutionary when it was introduced in 1972.

The black-and-white arcade game used simple block shapes to simulate two paddles and a ball; the object was for players to hit the ball so their opponents could not return it. A home version paved the way for the game console industry.

At the Cira Centre, the game will be re-created using hundreds of lights already embedded in its north face. The tower stands by day as a gleaming, mirrored edifice in west Philadelphia, but each night it illuminates the skyline with colored, patterned displays. A spokesman could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Lee said he was driving by the building one night five years ago when he was suddenly struck with the idea that the lights could be configured to play the shape-fitting game Tetris.

Neil Miller (left) and Matt Hess (right) look over some of the spring crops in the new green house at the World Hunger Relief Inc. Hess was recently appointed executive director of the nonprofit, while Miller is stepping down from that role into a new position working with interns and international training efforts. (Waco Tribune-Herald via Associated Press)

The World Hunger Relief, Inc. will hold its annual Spring Farm Day Festival from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at the World Hunger Relief farm located at 356 Spring Lake Rd. in Waco.

According to its website, worldhungerrelief.org, World Hunger Relief, Inc.’s mission is to help those who struggle with food insecurity.

World Hunger Relief Inc. teaches employees and interns to raise vegetables and livestock in an attempt to promote sustainable farming techniques for communities in need.

The Spring Farm Day Festival is an annual event the organization puts on to give the public a little peek into what it does.

“World Hunger Relief has been around since 1976 but there’s still people in Waco that don’t know we exist,” said Kristi Pereira, education director for World Hunger Relief Inc.

“This is a chance for us to spread the knowledge of what our organization does and gain more supporters,” she said.

To kick off the day, the Ride for Relief bike ride will start at 8:30 a.m. The ride is just under 3 miles and is intended for families.

Pereira said World Hunger Relief, Inc. has ensured that the ride is safe, even for young children. Many of the roads traveled on will be closed and there will be police officers on site.

Outdoor Waco is offering discounted bike rentals specifically for the ride.

“The Ride for Relief is the biggest fundraiser for us at this festival,” Pereira said. “We got a big donor willing to match up to $10,000, so we are trying to get more people to sign up for the ride and raise as much as possible.”

The bike teams that raise the most money will receive prizes such as a house concert by Ryan Pickop, the number one folk music artist in Waco, foodscaping by Edible Lawns, water equipment rental from Outdoor Waco and an oil change and inspection by Kingdom Motor Werks.

You can register for the race at worldhungerrelief.org.

At the festival there will also be hayrides for families, a vendor village where local vendors sell their products, a petting zoo, walking tours and kids’ storytelling by Vivian Rutherford, a member of the McLennan County Library.

Hope Springs Water will also host a booth to promote its organization and raise money to support water well drilling all over the world.

At the Hope Springs Water booth, representatives will give out its own brand of water and educate the public on the problems associated with contaminated drinking water.

Hope Springs Water will also let the public participate in carrying jerrycans, water containers that hold 20 liters.

World Hunger Relief, Inc. is a nonprofit Christian organization dedicated to educating individuals about sustainable farming techniques and living simply.

The organization holds that these factors are the keys to alleviating world hunger.

“I’m not sure how much money this event brings in but its not only the monetary value that is important to us,” Pereira said. “It’s also the number of supporters we gain from it.”

Blake Herridge, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Marlin, will attempt to meet the fundraising needs of history students from Marlin Middle School by doing something he does best — reading minds.

Herridge, under the stage name Blake Adams, will perform a mentalist show to raise money for the Marlin Middle School students’ field trip to Washington, D.C., at 7 p.m. today and on Saturday in the Palace Theatre in Marlin.

Tickets for adults are $8 and $5 for children under 12 years of age.

Amy Brown, the school’s counselor and the trip’s sponsor, said the students will travel to the nation’s capital to experience first-hand artifacts and monuments of American history that they learned about in their history classes.

To make this trip a reality, however, the students need funds. That’s where Herridge will come in, putting on a mentalist show to raise money for the students.

Brown said Marlin Middle School was looking for different ways to fundraise for the trip to Washington D.C., and Herridge presented them with his idea for the mentalist show.

Brown, along with trip leader and U.S. history teacher at the school Rhonda Milton, will attend the trip with the students. “It can be difficult for families to raise money for the field trip,” Brown said.

“We do fundraisers and things to help offset the cost. A lot of our students in our area and our schools — that’s very tough for the parents to come up with, more than other areas,” Brown said.

What Herridge calls “mentalism” is an act of using psychological tactics to try and guess what a person is thinking, focusing on how a person conducts themselves physically and making suggestions to the person being performed upon. Herridge compares it to what people do when playing poker, where some players can figure out what another player has in their deck by reading body language.

“Mentalism is considered the last secret art of magic,” Herridge said. He claims that magicians themselves can be astounded by the work of a mentalist, as mentalism is a completely different type of illusion.

For the shows he performs, Herridge gives a disclaimer that he has no supernatural powers, but is rather using the five human senses to create an illusion.

Some mentalists claim they have supernatural powers, Herridge said, and he sees this as a horrible thing to do, expressing that these performers give people false hope if they claim to be able to do something like talk to the dead.

Herridge says they’re abusing the skill.

Herridge first began practicing magic tricks when he was about ten or eleven and saw commercials on TV that taught viewers how to perform tricks.

He later became interested in mentalism.

“When I was a kid I got sent to the principal’s office because they thought I was practicing witchcraft,” Herridge said.

Herridge said he has never done a trick in a service at his church and never will.

“I’ve never been motivated correctly to be able to do a trick, and I felt like if I did a trick it’s just going to be about me, and it would have to be a trick that would really push the message.”

When deciding on his career, Herridge knew he loved performing but wanted to be a pastor.

Herridge considers being able to do his mentalist shows for fundraising to help people a ministry in itself.

“It’s taken me awhile to figure out how exactly to combine mentalism and that type of skill with my ministry,” Herridge said.

Herridge has done shows at Common Grounds, the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, different companies, corporate events and the Mayborn Museum Complex.

Though Herridge can perform magic tricks, he said he doesn’t perform evangelizing magic trick shows, as some Christian performers do. Herridge he finds this to be cheesy.

Herridge a lot of Christian illusionists do more discredit to Christianity and magic because of their cheesiness.

“When I do a show for a church, it’s just to open up the idea that you can still experience wonder in this world, and that wonder points to something else,” he said.

Tickets for the Blake Herridge show can be purchased at the door on the nights of the show, or by contacting Herridge at 254-722-1187.

Eric Metaxas (Courtesy Photo)

Eric Metaxas, host of Breakpoint broadcasts, New York Times bestselling author and noted Christian speaker, will visit Baylor today.

The Baylor Institute of Religion is hosting “An Evening with Eric Metaxas” at 7 p.m. in the Powell Chapel, where Metaxas will discuss his career, work and best-selling biography, “Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy.”

Although the event is free, the online registration list is already filled, with a limited number of overflow seats available in the Great Hall at Truett, outside of the Chapel.
Byron Johnson, director of the Institute for Studies of Religion, said the registration for the event already closed last Thursday.

“We have a bit of a problem,” Johnson said. “We’re close to 550, but there is overflow. It’s a good problem to have.”

Metaxas is known for his varied, wide-ranging career, having published children’s books within the same year as releasing his most recent New York Times bestseller.

Johnson said he thinks Metaxas is different from previous speakers.

“I think he’s a very brilliant guy,” Johnson said. “He’s not your typical person. Not many people can tackle Bonhoeffer and Veggie Tales, and he has.”

The book examines the life, imprisonment and death of the German pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer during World War II. Bonhoeffer was a Lutheran pastor who wrote “The Cost of Discipleship” and other works while imprisoned during his plots to assassinate Adolf Hitler.

“You have a person who takes a stand at a difficult time and dies what you might call a martyr’s death and also leaves a legacy of teaching, training and education with things like ‘The Cost of Discipleship,’” said Dr. Eric Holleyman, senior lecturer of religion. “That might tell you why this many years later, you have someone like Metaxas coming do something on Bonhoeffer.”

Johnson said that Metaxas will be releasing copies of his newest book, “Seven Men: And the Secret of Their Greatness,” to Baylor attendees weeks before its scheduled release. Metaxas has appeared on CNN, FOX news and NPR and was the keynote speaker at last year’s National Prayer Breakfast. The National Prayer Breakfast is a yearly religious event that has been attended by the president, members of the cabinet and international dignitaries since 1953.

“That prayer breakfast really put him on the map, so his bell’s been ringing off the hook to get talks all across the country,” said Johnson.

Despite Metaxas’ busy schedule, Johnson said Metaxas’ choice to visit a university was both intentional and rare.

“I think that Eric is really anxious to make connections to college students and college campuses,” Johnson said. “I don’t think that he’s done a lot of that.”

Lariat File Photo

In a place full of lions, tigers and bears, visitors to the Cameron Park Zoo will learn to live safer lives, as the zoo hosts its Poison Safety Safari. Together with the Central Texas Poison Control Center and Scott & White Healthcare, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Cameron Park Zoo will have games and presentations for kids and their families, teaching everyone about poison safety. This will be the first time that the Cameron Park Zoo has hosted this event since 2003.

“We tell the public that everything can be poisonous,” said Jennifer Watson, community education specialist for the Central Texas Poison Center at Scott & White Healthcare. “It just depends on the dose. So even water can be poisonous.”

In the front plaza of the zoo, children 12 years old and younger will be able to pick up a goody bag with a scavenger hunt booklet and free giveaways inside. When they finish filling out the booklet from the hunt the children can enter to win a drawing for a girl’s or boy’s bike, both of which were donated by Walmart in Temple said Connie Kassner, education curator for the Cameron Park Zoo.

“A lot of times, it seems like people come to the zoo and they don’t realize something else is going on, and then they really enjoy the fact that there are other things to do in the zoo besides just walk around and look at the animals,” Kassner said.

On the playground area of the zoo, children and families will learn about things found in the wild with a special focus on things found locally, Kassner said. One activity, a game, will compare things that look alike, like candy and certain medicines, and will educate kids on the difference between what is edible and what isn’t.

Scott & White Healthcare will talk to parents about childproofing their homes and will give away child safety locks for cabinets.

The Safe Kids coalition will talk about car seat and vehicle safety.

There will be a drunk driving simulator in the front plaza, where visitors can see for themselves what it’s like to drive drunk.

Alpha Epsilon Delta, a Baylor student organization, will be coming out and volunteering with multiple aspects of the event, Kassner said.

A nature trail activity around the park will help teach children where poisons “hide,” educating kids on organisms such spiders, snakes and ants, Watson said.

“It kind of gets children thinking not to pick those things up, and don’t put them in your mouth, and don’t try to kill a spider or snake on your own — things like that,” Watson said.
The Humane Society of Central Texas will talk about pet safety.

The Temple Target store will be hosting a “mother-may-I” game, which will teach kids about what is and isn’t safe for them to eat, smell and touch. Some zookeepers will be talking about invertebrates’ bites and stings and reptiles, focusing on Texas organisms.

“For example,” Kassner said, “our reptile staff will be talking about the milk snake and the coral snake; how one is venomous and one is not; how you’ll find rat snakes and they’ll talk about cottonmouths and copperheads and different snakes you’ll find in this area.”

This week is National Poison Prevention Week, and in honor of that, there will be a poison safety poster contest for the children, judged by zoo staff. Children will be able to make a poster Saturday, but many have already submitted posters through their schools. The winner of the poster contest will get a yearlong family membership pass to the zoo.

Watson, who visits schools to educate children on poison safety, said most children will think about poison ivy when hearing the word “poison.” They don’t think about medication or cleaning supplies being poisonous, she said.

“I wish that we could speak to parents more. Unfortunately when I go to groups of parents ­— and it’s usually in a parenting class or something — there’s not a lot of parents that want to attend parenting classes, so we don’t get to talk to as many as we would like. But when I do talk to them, they are amazed and shocked.”