Spring has sprung once more and so has the annual Spring Spectacular at the America’s Teaching Zoo.

The event begins on March 19 and continues for the next three weekends until April 3.

“It’s been a community and zoo tradition,” Mara Rodriguez, zoo operations staff and instructional lab technician said. “It is our longest running event here at the zoo and it’s really an opportunity to give the community a flagship event to remember to come to every spring.”

During this family event, visitors can expect special scripted shows, with this year’s theme being the Zoolympics, which is based on the 2016 Olympics. The shows will include a parade of the nations, the lighting of the torch, competitions between the zoo animals and many other familiar Olympic events.

“The students that you see in the show are the actual trainers of those animals who have worked for months in training new behaviors and getting these animals prepared to do the show, which is truly our only scripted show that we do all year,” Rodriguez said.

Cheyenne Ramirez, 23, Exotic Animal Training and Management student, is one of the student trainers who rehearse three days a week to perfect the show.

“I’m just excited to see everything start to come together,” said Ramirez. “We have around 80 students right now and every student has a job for the Spring Spectacular.”

Ramirez said the the students who put up the show are part of a two-year program. The first-year students are in charge of the behind-the-scene jobs such as making props and costumes. The second years are the one who write the script and train the animals to follow it.

There will also be food and souvenir vendors, a kid’s zone with games and arts and crafts, VIP tours, informational booths and special guest animals.

Rodriguez and her students have put much of their time and effort into making the 26th Spring Spectacular happen.

“I always like to say, ‘Spring Spectacular is like a regular weekend on steroids,’” Rodriguez said. “It has all of the familiar things that our guests love, which is the interaction with the students, trainers, close experiences with the animals, but everything is amplified.”

Although the event is the zoo’s largest fundraising production of the year, which is especially important since the zoo is planning on expanding, Rodriguez enjoys this event primarily for the excitement created in the community, the students, and the alumni that return to the zoo every year during this event to see how it has progressed.

For both regulars and new visitors, Rodriguez believes that this event is one of the best times to get the most out of the zoo experience.

“The zoo will be full of energy,” Rodriguez said. “It’ll be colorful and it really is the greatest time to come see this place in all its glory”

For more information, visit http://zoo.moorparkcollege.edu/events/