Tropical Oasis Weekend

Immerse yourself in the Tropics, enjoy a new flower show, and groove to live music!

Special MLK Weekend Activities!

Say goodbye to the cold and step into the lush warmth of Como Park Zoo & Conservatory for Tropical Oasis Weekend, January 18, 19, & 20, from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM. Enjoy FREE family-friendly fun across the zoo and conservatory, featuring hands-on crafts, games, and interactive stations. Twice daily at 10:30 AM and 1:30 PM, join our incredible Education Team for a guided tour of Tropical Encounters! Discover the hidden treasures and fascinating secrets of this vibrant exhibit. Get up close to freshwater stingrays, river turtles, frogs, toads, dazzling fish, free-roaming birds, an anaconda, and the star of the show—Chloe the Sloth! Wander through a lush rainforest filled with incredible trees and plants like strangler fig, kapok, cecropia, annatto, mahogany, peach palm, balsa, and the intriguingly named ice cream bean. Where else can you find a tropical getaway this magical, just steps away from Minnesota’s winter chill? Bring your sense of adventure—we’ll bring the tropics! Join us for first flower show of 2025 and the reopening of the Sunken Garden with newly installed ramps! The 2025 Winter Flower Show features a stunning display of flowering trees, shrubs, bulbs, and blooms. Pink velthiemia, dark red pansies, crimson dianthus, hibiscus, delicate poppies, fragrant sweet peas, and phlox are featured in this winter display. On Sunday afternoons stroll the tropical gardens with a beer or wine as live, local musicians perform from 4:30-6:30pm at Como’s “Music Under Glass” free concert series. On January 19,  Dan “Daddy Squeeze” Newton teams up with Pat Donohue and Richard Kriehn (from A Prairie Home Companion’s Guy’s All-Star Shoe Band) to perform in the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory. The ace on the accordion, Dan “Daddy Squeeze” Newton, has rounded up two of the best musicians around! Grammy winning fingerpicker, Pat Donohue, and master of the mandolin, Richard Kriehn.