If drinking various wine selections amongst the wildlife at the Little Rock Zoo is on your bucket list, this weekend’s your chance. The Little Rock Zoo’s annual Wild Wines festival is returning Friday and Saturday, a year and a half after the 2020 event was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. Zoo director Susan Alturi is hosting the event, which will feature food from several area restaurants paired with selected wines from beverage sponsor O’Looney’s Wine & Liquor. The two-night event will feature live music and “special up-close appearances” from the Zoo’s Animal Ambassador program.

Friday night’s VIP party ($175 per ticket) will include premium wines, a higher-end souvenir wine glass and food selections from 42 Bar and Table, Table 28, Trio’s, Raduno Brick Oven & Barroom and Cypress Social. The Rodney Block Collective and Harp and Brian Nahlen will be performing live music. Friday night’s VIP tickets include admission to the “Mane Event” on Saturday night ($85), which will feature more than 200 wines to sample, a souvenir glass and food from Bonefish Grill, Cantina Laredo, Cheba Hut, Doe’s Eat Place, Eat My Catfish, Fassler Hall, Loblolly Creamery, Moe’s Southwest Grill, Soulfish and Shorty Small’s.

Advertisement

All proceeds from the event benefit the Arkansas Zoological Foundation, the nonprofit 501(c)(3) raising funds for the growth and development of the Little Rock Zoo.

Another feature of the festival is an online silent auction offering a wild assortment of goods and services. Some of the highlights: paintings by Little Rock Zoo animals; trips to Costa Rica, Portugal, Iceland, Italy or Ireland; a dental X-ray machine; laser hair removal; 50 units of Botox; 12 bottles of French wine; experiences like Zookeeper for a day or veterinarian for a day; exclusive one-night use of an Arkansas Travelers suite at Dickey Stephens Park; a lion head wine stopper; season passes to The Rep and a six night “Game of Thrones” journey to several of the filming locations. The online auction is running until 5 p.m. on Sept. 19. You can check out the auction, make bids or donate here.

Advertisement

Be a part of something bigger

As a reader of the Arkansas Times, you know we’re dedicated to bringing you tough, determined, and feisty journalism that holds the powerful accountable. For 50 years, we've been fighting the good fight in Little Rock and beyond – with your support, we can do even more. By becoming a subscriber or donating as little as $1 to our efforts, you'll not only have access to all of our articles, but you'll also be helping us hire more writers to expand our coverage and continue to bring important stories to light. With over 63,000 Facebook followers, 58,000 Twitter followers, 35,000 Arkansas blog followers, and 70,000 daily email blasts, it's clear that our readers value our great journalism. Join us in the fight for truth.

Previous article The divided city awaits the mayor’s next move, particularly regarding the police chief Next article LRPD makes arrest in double slaying