Petting Zoo

Connie Bolger has a robust traveling petting zoo that she feels promotes agriculture for children. “My husband and I started this company about 25 years ago when we realized that there was a real need for children to have an exposure to agriculture because kids really don't know much about agriculture and somebody has to teach them. The parents are not doing a very good job of teaching them, and we really have to do a better job in our society of making sure that kids have an appreciation for agriculture and their parents, because if their parents don't know much, then the kids don't know much. We started our season at the Florida State Fair in Tampa, and we were involved with the maternity ward there where we carved out cows at the local dairy farmer, brought in cows that were ready to calve and we had baby calves while we were there. It's amazing to me the fascination that kids have when they see a calf be born. What better way to teach the kids the facts of life than that? This is a very agricultural minded fair. You don't see combines and tractors and those types of things at a lot of fairs. But this fair is an agricultural minded fair because this fair realizes that AG is what most of the fairgoers here are involved with. My goal in life, if I can convince one little child that he or she needs to be a part of agriculture, then I've done my job.”: Yes, you have. And you've done it well.