2020 The Memphis Zoo
MidtownMemphis.org Mojo Award recipient The Memphis Zoo with music by Amy LaVere
and Will Sexton. Music sponsored by Blue Sky Couriers.
The Memphis Zoo has earned a Mojo of Midtown Award for putting the roar back in one of our favorite spots. A significant change in Zoo management happened in 2019 with the naming of Jim Dean as the Zoo's new President and CEO. He seems a good fit. A native Memphian who fondly remembers the Zoo he visited as a child, Dean is engineer by training. But his entire career has been spent in the attraction industry, including executive positions at Florida's Busch Gardens and Seaworld Orlando. Dean understands entertainment, conservation, education and tourism, he says. All things a successful zoo runs on. Not long ago the word 'Greensward' was a rallying cry for a lot of Midtowners, especially neighbors of the Zoo. The issue got so bad it brought out protesters and 'Save The Greensward' yard signs. Some of those Midtowners felt a choice had been made for parking spaces and convenience over green space and the tranquility of Overton Park. But behind the dispute was the problem of popularity. A recent survey put our Zoo among the top 20 in the country. That kind of quality has driven attendance to an average of 1.3 million visitors a year. Those cars full of families had to park somewhere. Finally, the city and neighborhood representatives and the Zoo reached an agreement on anew parking plan, with spaces under construction even as we speak." Our goal is to make this a better zoo, not a bigger zoo," Jim Dean told us recently, while walking around, observing as the zoo staff worked on off-season "cleaning, housekeeping, deferred maintenance," all of it with a goal of a better guest experience. A plan is in the works for re-imagining the Aquarium into something more modern, while preserving the original red brick building. And they're in the design and development phase of what Dean expects will be a world class exhibit at the Zoo's western end. In a recent interview Dean acknowledged that management's handling of the Greensward situation was a "black eye" for the Zoo, especially with its neighbors. But in his view, that is the past. "We're thriving by looking through the windshield, not the rear view mirror," he says." We're developing a new master plan. We're looking at Africa and at the west end of the zoo and all the exhibits over there are going to be renovated. We're going to be the best Zoo in the country," he says. "When the school kids come, that's exciting. The zoo is packed and it feels alive and kids are laughing and learning. That's what's important."
