INNISFAIL – Discovery Wildlife Park officially opened for the season on May 1 and owners are hoping for another good year despite the dramatic rise in fuel prices and inflation.
“We are just hoping with the economy and the gas prices and everything people will still come out,” said Doug Bos, co-owner of the park, conceding it could have an adverse impact this season that follows a good year in 2021.
“Anybody who’s not would be a fool. I won’t be able to tell you that until the end of the season,” he said. “We had a good year last season. Inflation wasn’t near what it is now and the weather was a lot more in our favour, and we didn’t have the competition.
“With every community holding their fairs, rodeos and their festivals and all the stuff that can normally go on, there’s going to be a lot more alternatives for people to do."
Even still, Bos said there is much to offer guests in 2022.
He said the park has added baby wolves and a young yak, and has the one-year-old bear cubs that have become a sensation on social media.
He also points out the park’s campground, which is open only during the zoo’s regular season from May to September, has new cabins this year, bringing the total to 17.
“They are going over like a house on fire, so anybody who wants a cabin better get on the bandwagon because just about every weekend is booked up from now until the end of August,” said Bos, who was busy during an interview on May 13th getting the campground’s new washroom up and ready.
“If anybody wants a cabin this summer, they don’t have to spend big money on fuel, so it’s a lot cheaper to rent a cabin.”
In the meantime, Bos is already preparing for his first Light the Night display that will run from November through to January.
He has already invested about $100,000 for the new winter-time event at Discovery Wildlife Park, which will extend the zoo’s season from five to seven months. The investment includes purchasing lights and decorations, and newly created buildings for storage.
The drive-thru Christmas Light Display is planned to be showcased along a mile-long route inside the park. Park owners believe it will attract at least 3,000 vehicles with up to 10,000 people, many of them from out of town.
The goal is to create a Christmas holiday attraction that will be as popular as similar ones at the Calgary Zoo, Saskatoon Forestry Farm Park & Zoo and the Airdrie Festival of Lights.
“We are also expecting that Light the Night will bring in more visitors that have not been to Innisfail or our park before and this should help build awareness of what we have to offer in the summer as well,” Bos said in a letter that was on Innisfail town council’s agenda for May 9. “We hope that this will increase our summer revenues here at the park and in the local community too.”
The letter sought a letter of support from town council that will be submitted to Travel Alberta as part of a funding application for the Light the Night initiative.
Council unanimously agreed to the request.
