San Diego Zoo Centennial at Balboa Park

The San Diego Zoo celebrated their 100th anniversary with a Zoo Tribute Performance in Balboa Park on Saturday.  Since Tommy was performing in the show as a Giraffe puppet, Tori and I drove down with Kenny and Jill to watch. The Plaza de Panama was crowded with people and lined with food trucks that extended down the El Prado. It was a mistake to arrive starving since all the trucks had very long lines. We ended up ordering delicious Spanish Sandos from the Back to Foods truck which had the shortest line. (Twenty Minutes)

After getting our food we headed over to the Spreckels Organ Pavilion to grab a spot for the Zoo Tribute Performance starting at 8:15pm. As soon as the twilight faded, the show began with a projection of the sun setting over the African Savanna and a opening proclamation by Mayor Kevin Faulconer. Accompanied by a live orchestra and light show, the large wrapped boxes spread out on the stage were opened by dancers to reveal giant human controlled puppets of an Elephant and the California Condor. Between the gift box reveals, there was a short speech by Joan Embery and a song by the Tony and Grammy award winner, Heather Headley, backed by a 130 person choir. The third and final present was opened to reveal a giant lion puppet who ended the show with a roar.

It was great to see Tommy leading his fellow Giraffes through the crowd during the show. He will be performing with the other animal puppets at the Wegeforth Bowl inside the San Diego Zoo this summer. Since we were still hungry after the centennial tribute, we walked across the Cabrillo Bridge to eat tacos at Barrio Star in Bankers Hill. Their homemade corn tortillas are always so good.