Countdown begins to Bristol's wildest festival

With just over one week to go until the Zoo’s annual summer music festival, colourful stilt walkers visited Bristol Zoo to officially launch this year’s Boogie for Brizzle event.

Boogie for Brizzle is a jammed packed day of music, theatre, circus acts, cabaret, food, drink and fun for all ages and is the highlight of the Zoo’s annual events calendar.

Today (Thursday, July 8), performers from Bristol-based Vertigo Stilts, visited Bristol Zoo to officially launch Boogie for Brizzle.

Boogie for Brizzle will be held on Saturday July 17, in the Zoo’s impressive 12-acre grounds, and is the only night of the year the entire zoo stays open until late.

The event celebrates and showcases Bristol’s abundant home-grown talent, including some of the best performers and live music the city has to offer.

The line-up for this year includes Dreadzone,an eclectic fusion of dub and reggae mixed with elements of techno, trance, folk and rock; jazz and soul sounds from Miss Cecily; melodious vocals from Pete Josef and funky rumba from Vamos.

Dreadzone’s Greg Dread is looking forward to the event. He said: “We’ve played some great shows in Bristol over the years so we’re really looking forward to coming back to play at Boogie for Brizzle. We’ve definitely never played a gig in a zoo before though so that should be interesting!”

Throughout the day there will also be walkabout entertainers, action-packed carberat, body-popping break dance, circus performers, stilt walkers and children’s actvities.

And if that’s not enough, visitors can also visit the hundreds of different animal species at home in the Zoo, including lions, gorillas, penguins, seals, monkeys and meerkats, and take the opportunity to swing alongside the Zoo’s gibbons and gorillas, on the high level ropes course, ZooRopia.

Boogie for Brizzle takes place on Saturday, July 17 from 3pm until late. The event will raise valuable funds for the Zoo’s new amphibian breeding sanctuary. Called the AmphiPod, the facility provides the perfect conditions to allow two frog species on the verge of extinction to breed, in an effort to help save them from extinction.

Advance tickets for Boogie for Brizzle cost £11.50 (£7.50 child) or £30.50 for a family ticket. Tickets on night cost £13.50 (£8.50 child) and £35 for a family. Discounts apply for members, concessions and groups of 10 or more.

To book tickets phone Bristol Zoo on 0117 974 7300, ask at the Zoo or book online at www.bristolzoo.org.uk.

ENDS

For images or more information please contact Bristol Zoo Press Office:

Lucy Parkinson, T: 0117 974 7306, or email: lparkinson@bristolzoo.org.uk

Vanessa Hollier, T: 0117 974 7309, or email vhollier@bristolzoo.org.uk

Notes to the editor

BristolZoo Gardens

• Bristol Zoo Gardens is an education and conservation charity and relies on the income from visitors to support its work. 
  1. Throughout 2010 Bristol Zoo will be running a series of events to highlight the importance of conserving the world’s biodiversity, as part of the international Year of Biodiversity. For more information visit the Zoo website at www.bristolzoo.org.uk/about/conservation/campaigns/iyob
  2. To find out more about the UN’s International Year of Biodiversity visit the website at www.biodiversityislife.net
  3. Bristol Zoo is open from 9am every day except Christmas Day. 
  4. The Zoo is involved with more than 100 co-ordinated breeding programmes for threatened wildlife species. 
  5. Itemploys 140 full and part-time staff to care for the animals and run a successful visitor attraction to support its conservation and education work. 
  6. Bristol Zoo Gardens supports – through finance and skill sharing – 15 projects in the UK and abroad that conserveand protectsome of the world’s most endangered species.
  7. Bristol Zoo Gardens is a member of the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums. BIAZA represents more than 90 member collections and promotes the values of good zoos and aquariums.

Countdown begins to Briost