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New Outdoor Education Theater Coming to Miller Park Zoo

The Sullivan Rohrscheib Education Theater will be completed by the end of the year
Sarah Nardi
The Sullivan Rohrscheib Education Theater will be completed by the end of the year at Miller Park Zoo in Bloomington.

Miller Park Zoo will soon be home to a new outdoor education theater.

The zoo on Wednesday broke ground on the project that’s expected to be complete by the end of the year.

Located between the carousel and the bald eagle exhibit, the theater will replace the smaller Rainforest theater. Paula Pratt, development director of the Miller Park Zoological Society, said the larger theater will allow the zoo to build on its rich history of educational programming for kids.

The new theater will be funded in large part by a donation from a memorial fund created in honor of Sullivan Rohrscheib. Sullivan was born with a congenital heart defect and lived for only 40 minutes. His father, Josh Rohrscheib, said the fund was created as a way to bring joy to children in the community. He hopes the Sullivan Rohrscheib Education Theater can do exactly that.

And to make things even more joyful, Miller Park Zoo will offer free ice cream to all children every year on June 30 — in celebration of Sullivan’s birthday.

Sarah Nardi is a WGLT reporter. She previously worked for the Chicago Reader covering Arts & Culture.
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