Olmsted County Parks and Trails Newsletter - Winter 2026

In this issue

Winter camping, Boo at the Zoo, a note from the bear, and more... 

A note from the black bear

by: Clarissa Schrooten on behalf of the black bear

I would like to give a big thank you to Fareway Meat & Grocery in Byron for being so generous to me at Oxbow Park and Zollman Zoo! My keepers at the zoo want to make sure that I have a healthy diet, so they work with Fareway Meat & Grocery to get me the foods I like to eat. Fareway donates produce that is no longer good for humans to eat, but I’m not so picky about my food being a little overripe; I kind of prefer that. I really enjoy the fruits that are donated: watermelon, cantaloupe, pineapple, grapes, blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, raspberries, lettuce, kiwi, apples, and sometimes the more exotic seasonal fruits. My keepers try to feed me vegetables, but since I don’t like them, I just leave them for the keeper to clean up the next day. The keepers are catching on, so they feed the vegetables to my friends in the zoo, the deer, elk, woodchucks, prairie dogs, and porcupines who appreciate them more than I. The keepers worry about me eating too much sugar, so they feed me meat that is donated from Fareway and a chow that is made to give me all the nutrition I really need as a bear. The chow is ok, but I am so grateful to Fareway for donating the “good stuff.”

Boo at the Zoo

by: Amber Henn

October is my favorite month of the year. The leaves are changing colors, the temperature turns to sweater weather, soup and hot cocoa are consumed in abundance, and it has one of the best community-building holidays around: Halloween. 

When people think of Halloween, they imagine a night of costumes and candy. But it’s also an occasion that brings communities together in a way that few other holidays do. For kids, they have a spooktacular night of trick-or-treating, and the adults have a chance to reconnect with neighbors, meet new people, and support local businesses. 

To encourage this, Oxbow Park & Zollman Zoo has an event called “Boo at the Zoo,” which brings in hundreds of people every year. This event encourages a spirit of learning, fun, and creativity through various activities throughout the day. This year, our Boo at the Zoo event was held on October 24, 2026, and was incredibly successful, with over 800 people! 

Below is a list of all the activities we had this year.

• Bone Table: One of the activities we had was a bone table which had various bones from Minnesota native species. Guests were encouraged to guess what animals they were from, learned about identifying animal skulls from teeth, and even felt how heavy or light certain bones were. 
• Pelt Table: We’ve all wished we could pet an animal at the zoo at one point in time. Our pelt table allowed guests an opportunity to identify, touch, and learn about select species.
• Coloring: Halloween animal-themed coloring pages were provided for guests to color if they needed a break. This allowed parents and kids time to connect and talk with people sitting next to them and make new friends! Over 800 people participated in this activity.
• Arts and Crafts: This was new this year, and we had 340 people participating in this. There were two crafts to choose from. One was a mosaic bat in which guests could glue small pieces of colored paper onto a bat outline. The second was creating a bubbling cauldron where guests could dip the ends of paper towel rolls into paint and stamp bubbles on their cauldrons. 
• Candy-free trick-or-treating: Our front desk is an area where kids can come trick-or-treat for various items like bubbles, stickers, slap bracelets, etc. We had 765 trick-or-treaters!
• K9 demonstration: New this year, we had a K9 officer and his partner visit for 3 hours to perform demonstrations, answer questions, and let guests pet the K9. This was an amazing opportunity for community outreach and learning!
• Fall Photo Spots: We had two photo areas where guests could take pictures with their friends and families. One was a pumpkin where guests could put their head in the “eye spots”; the other was one set up by Park Naturalist, Jaide Ryks, at the bench swing and had straw, pumpkins, cute signs, and of course, lots of smiles!
• Ellie the Otter: This mascot made her first debut promoting water quality for animals at our We Are Water MN travelling exhibit we had at the beginning of the year. She made another appearance at Boo at the Zoo, and kids loved taking pictures with her.
• Pumpkin Carving voting: Some of our animals “carved” some pumpkins, and we displayed them for public voting to determine which animal was the best artist. 
• Pumpkin party for the animals: Staff members placed pumpkins in animal exhibits, and guests could watch them gently play with them or aggressively destroy them!
• Decorations: The Nature Center and Zoo were decorated with Halloween items, including new inflatables that were generously donated to us! 

The huge success of Boo at the Zoo would not have been possible without the volunteers and staff who helped with this event. My biggest thank you to everyone who helped make this event successful, and I can't wait to do it again next year!

Monarch watch

by: Jaide Ryks

This year, and several years past, Oxbow Park participated in a program called Monarch Watch. Established in 1992, Monarch Watch is a citizen-science-led program to help aid monarch research. This program helps both citizens and scientists learn about the biology of monarch butterflies, migration patterns, and supports the conservation of the orange and black butterfly. With monarch populations declining, programs like this are important in the conservation of the species and allow everyday citizens to be involved. 

Monarch butterflies are truly a special species. As one of the only insect species to migrate over 4,000 miles, there is a lot to learn about them! A monarch’s typical lifespan is only a few weeks long, unless it is part of the “super generation.” There are four generations of monarchs. Each year, the first, second, and third are the butterflies that mate, lay eggs on milkweed, and die within a few weeks. The fourth generation typically emerges from its chrysalis in late August and begins its great journey south, drinking nectar of purple coneflower, blazing star, goldenrod, and more along the way. This super generation will travel 2,000 miles one way to the mountains of Mexico to overwinter. This area provides monarchs with the perfect conditions for overwintering: high altitude and cool temperatures. As spring approaches, these monarchs begin their travels north, and the cycle continues.

Monarch Watch is a fun and inexpensive program anyone can participate in. The program supplies you with little “stickers” or “tags” that are stuck on the butterfly’s wing. This tag is light and does not affect flight. It also has a tiny code: the butterfly's individual tracking number. Butterflies are caught, tagged, and data is entered into Monarch Watch’s database. When butterflies are found, dead or alive, citizens can report the tag. This supports Monarch Watch scientists with information on migration patterns, mortality rates, changes in geographic distribution, and more. Oxbow Park naturalists, interns, and volunteers tagged over 20 butterflies this season and hope to increase that number every year! 

Do you love monarch butterflies as much as I do? Do you want to help with conservation and research? Monarch Watch is the program for you, but it's not the only thing you can do to help! Planting native plants like milkweed, butterfly weed, asters, and other Minnesota-native plants provides monarchs with the plants they need to survive. Providing butterflies with a “puddling station” is also very beneficial to butterflies because it allows them to get beneficial salt and a nice drink of water without the risk of drowning. 

For more information on monarch tagging, visit MonarchWatch.org or reach out to an Oxbow Park naturalist! 

Winter camping

by: Celeste Lewis

Summer camping has always been one of the largest draws to our Olmsted County Parks.  It is, by far, the number one income source that they have, and with the addition of the new campground at Oxbow Park, that will only increase.  But were you aware that Olmsted County Parks and Trails offer winter camping as well? Oxbow Park (with the addition of the new campground) and Chester Woods Park both have winter camping opportunities.

What do these opportunities look like?  Both parks will offer a select few camping sites that will be cleared out for winter RV camping with electric hookups, as well as camping cabin availability.  The sites, while having electric hook-ups, will NOT have water available at them.  There is one water fill station at each campground that will be available with potable water.  Also, the main restroom/shower structures will not be available; at Oxbow, they have vault toilets, and at Chester Woods Campground there is a port-a-potty that is available during that time.  There will also NOT be a dump station available during the winter months at the parks.

Oxbow Park will have “winter” camping available beginning October 18 and running through the end of March. At Chester Woods Park, it is available beginning January 2 through the end of March.  Camping prices remain the same year-round.  Reservations for Oxbow are already available online by going to Camping | Olmsted County, MN.

Employers of Olmsted Light Festival (E.L.F.) 

by: Celeste Lewis

The second annual Employers of Olmsted Light Festival (E.L.F.)  is scheduled again at Chester Woods Park for Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays in December.  This drive-through light show event is free to the public, with donations encouraged. The ELF committee has been working hard throughout the year to make this event even bigger and better than last year!

Just to recap, last year (2025) was the first year that this event took place.  The event ran the first 3 weekends of December (Friday through Sunday), and here are the impressive results of that first year: 

• 15 Olmsted County businesses took part and sponsored a site
• Over 660 volunteer hours went into running this event
• Over 7000 cars drove through the campground (estimating an attendance of over 24,000 people!)
• Food shelf donations amounted to over 4800 pounds!
• And monetary donations of over $23,000.00!!!

I would say that is extremely impressive for a first-year event, and this year they are hoping to be even bigger!!! 

If you or someone that you know has a business that is interested in sponsoring a site or volunteering, you can find more information by clicking on this link:

Olmsted County Employers Light Festival (E.L.F.) | Olmsted County, MN