Animals 'up close and personal': Tefft Farm at Elgin's Lords Park Zoo about to open for summer

Some people like to summer at the beach. Farm animals in the know make Tefft Farm at Lords Park Zoo in Elgin their summer getaway.

A pair of miniature horses, a little donkey, three sheep, a couple of dairy cows and two little pigs that will be giant pigs by the end of the summer will be on hand to greet visitors when the zoo opens for the season at noon Saturday. All the animals are on loan from local farms.

“For the most part, the animals have infinitely more space here than where they come from,” said Lords Park crew leader Mike Adams, who helped the animals settle into their new environs this week. “They seem really happy here.”

None of them hate seeing the summer end more than the pigs, who by then will be more than 300 pounds and ready for, well, you know.

But seeing live animals, as opposed to the bacon aisle at the grocery store, makes the farm zoo special, said Terry Gabel, of Friends of Lords Park Zoo.

“City kids don't often get to see farm animals, especially up close and personal,” Gabel said. “That, coupled with all the great programs they have here, makes it a unique place.”

Friends of Lords Park Zoo underwrites programs that organizations have at the zoo throughout the summer. Those programs include the six “Uncaged in the Zoo” presentations by the Elgin Public Museum, the first of which features a visit from J.G.'s Reptile Road Show at 1 p.m. Saturday.

Opening day will also include a hands-on dairy presentation by the Elgin Historical Society and a brief, formal dedication for the farm zoo, which was renamed last year in honor of Dr. Joseph Tefft. Tefft was Elgin's first doctor and mayor, as well as a dairy farmer upon whose land the zoo occupies.

Other programs this summer include multiple visits by Chamber Music on the Fox and Side Street Studio Arts, and programs from the Gail Borden Library. “Uncaged” visitors include Deb the Frog Lady, Chi-Town Exotics and Scales & Tales Traveling Zoo.

The free zoo is open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday and from noon to 4 p.m. on weekends. It closes for the season on Aug. 12.

Gabel said another part of the zoo's appeal is nostalgia.

“This place makes family memories,” he said. “People come in with their grandkids and say, ‘Oh, I remember coming here as a child.'”