Families looking for a fun way to beat the September heat wave this weekend flocked to the Los Angeles Zoo for their Cool At The Zoo event.

Children run around the zoo excitedly, some holding plush animals or wearing paper crowns, while parents push strollers and reapply sunblock to their excited kids. 

Most of the zoo-goers seem to be enjoying themselves, despite temperatures approaching triple digits. 

At the front entrance, children giggle and shriek as firefighters spray them with cool water from the fire hose.  

Nearby, a crowd of children is throwing small snowballs at one another around an ice-carving exhibit. The artist, Troubled Ice, is using a chainsaw to shape a 300-pound block of ice into an alligator and her assistant is shaping the ice shavings into snowballs and tossing them to the enraptured crowd. As she works, the artist spouts off interesting facts about alligators and tests her audience’s knowledge with trivia. 

At the elephant exhibit, a crowd gathers and an excited murmur begins to build as it nears 1 pm, when the elephants are given their “trashsicles.”
The trashsicles, named for the trashcan used specifically for making them, are giant popsicles made with fresh fruits, vegetables and water, then frozen in a special freezer in just 3 hours. There are a few enthusiastic gasps as the elephants finally emerge and begin to play with their trashsicles, stomping on them and pushing them around in an effort to break them into more manageable pieces. 

Emily Marin, a zoo representative, said the elephant exhibit is one of the most popular stations at the event. “People really respond to elephants,” she said, “Its such a stirring, almost emotional experience to see these massive animals being so playful.”

Kai, 3, said his favorite part of the zoo trip was seeing the orangutans eat their frozen fruitsicles. His friend Luca, 4, laughed and pointed enthusiastically at his favorite part of the day, an inflatable sprinkler-filled “chill zone.”

One zoo-goer, Alisha Seaton, said that although she had to brace herself for the idea of spending a whole day at the zoo in the extreme heat, she was glad she came and her kids enjoyed the special events. 

The Cool At The Zoo event, which is in its second year, includes music, “cool zones” with fans and sprinklers, ice sculpting demonstrations, and special viewings of animals receiving frozen treats to help them keep cool.

The Cool At The Zoo ran again from 10 am to 4 pm today at the Los Angeles Zoo. 

Reach Staff Reporter Kaitlyn Mullin here or follow her on Twitter here.