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displacedredneck t1_j1wgp7z wrote

Reply to comment by DCSubi in Was ZooLights worse this year than in the past? by Dukester1007

This is it right here. Without FONZ, events at the zoo have been complete misses. Looking at you, Brew at the Zoo.

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Brainjacker t1_j1wn1r2 wrote

The 21+ late night Halloween party was always our favorite, it was the first thing we mourned when the FONZ news came out and of course there hasn’t been an attempt to revive it.

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GreatStateOfSadness t1_j1xpubd wrote

My experiences at Brewlights at the ZooLights in previous years remain some of the best events I've been to in my adult life. It was awful to get the email about FONZ leaving, and even worse to see Brew at the Zoo fall apart and BrewLights not even happen.

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Quelcris_Falconer13 t1_j1y2906 wrote

This sounds so much fun, I moved to DC during covid and this was one of things I wanted to, I wasn’t able to go and I was sad but reading this post made me feel better about missing the zoo lights

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RallyPigeon t1_j1x7i57 wrote

Yes! It was a great time and reasonably priced too

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rsplatpc t1_j1x2z0g wrote

> Without FONZ, events at the zoo have been complete misses.

just fyi the Zoo parted ways with FONZ because they could not afford to pay FONZ anymore after covid / not because they wanted to or thought they could do a better job or anything like that / FONZ people needed a salary and the zoo literally could not afford it / or come close to being able to afford it because their budget got decimated by covid and the lack of people coming to the zoo and spending money / the zoo is doing what it can with it's current budget and staff

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GettysBede t1_j1x784q wrote

Is your period key broken? Why are you separating sentences with slashes?

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[deleted] t1_j1x7xas wrote

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Blametheorangejuice t1_j1x8jvc wrote

TIL mobile phones don't have periods

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[deleted] t1_j1x932s wrote

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Blametheorangejuice t1_j1x9867 wrote

I understood what you were trying to say?

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[deleted] t1_j1x9da7 wrote

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Blametheorangejuice t1_j1x9ivw wrote

...because I and others would have had a better chance of understanding what you said if you moved your thumb a millimeter to the right?

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[deleted] t1_j1x9sk6 wrote

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Blametheorangejuice t1_j1x9y3p wrote

I REALLY could not tell what you were trying to say and I didn't feel like deciphering it. Lazy writing = lazy reading.

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[deleted] t1_j1xa1xy wrote

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[deleted] t1_j1xafor wrote

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[deleted] t1_j1xamal wrote

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Quelcris_Falconer13 t1_j1y2fh3 wrote

Don’t feel the trolls dudes people like this are the kids in elementary who remind the teacher they forgot to collect homework and always said “well ackshually” before going off on a completely pointless tangent.

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catastrophized t1_j1wyp01 wrote

Big agree; not sure I’d go back for another zoo event after that. Would rather just go visit the zoo on a normal day.

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DCSubi t1_j1x21cn wrote

FONZ had a small but mighty events team. Event planning is one of those thankless jobs that when you do it well, it seems easy and effortless. Everyone thinks they can be an event planner. And then, they eliminate the people who did it for 15-20-25-30 years and realize it’s not so easy. It’ll be interesting to see how long it takes the zoo to fix their ways.

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catastrophized t1_j1x5z4i wrote

I was really sad when the email came out that they were breaking up with FONZ :(

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DCSubi t1_j1xstfh wrote

It's not that they "broke up" with FONZ. They dissolved FONZ. 100s of people lost their jobs.

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displacedredneck t1_j1x03m9 wrote

September's Brew at the Zoo crushed any chance of me paying for another event there. Visit the zoo? Hell yeah.

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annelmao t1_j1x8to9 wrote

What happened at this event?

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displacedredneck t1_j1xaua5 wrote

They shoved all of the breweries, and thus all of the visitors, into this little clearing.

This was chosen instead of spreading the breweries along the paths/trails as they had done with Brew Lights in the past. It caused a major choke point, with a lot of crowding. Lines got pretty crappy with the crowding. The ground was already wet from an earlier rain, so when drinks started getting spilled and ice started melting, it became a soggy mess.

And this is at the bottom of the hill, which sucks for anyone that has difficulty with that walk. There was no signage or messages that informed guests of the location. Just random workers yelling "Keep walking! Keep moving! You're not there yet!"

That crappy beer fest at Nats Park is a comparable event.

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annelmao t1_j1xh9xf wrote

I am such a hater I’ll admit, but I didn’t buy tickets to Brew or attempt ZooLights because I knew it would be a catastrophe! Sad to hear the Nats Park one sucks too. What are the good crowd-controlled events in DC, man? Clockout does such a good job finding the best out there, but I’d love a good beer festival or light park without insane crowds! I guess we’re lucky to have the Mall

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