It’s time to see the babies (animal) at This is the Place
Ella Roundy holds a baby bunny at the Livery at This is the Place Heritage Park in Salt Lake City. It's Baby Animal Season at the park until May 25, 2012. Jessica Eyre/Utah Adventurer
Ella Roundy holds a poult, a baby turkey, at the Livery at This is the Place Heritage Park in Salt Lake City. It's Baby Animal Season at the park until May 25, 2012. Jessica Eyre/Utah Adventurer
Chicks climb around their pen at the Livery at This is the Place Heritage Park in Salt Lake City. It's Baby Animal Season at the park until May 25, 2012. Jessica Eyre/Utah Adventurer
Caleb Eyre and Jaggyr Roundy pet one of the lambs at the Livery at This is the Place Heritage Park in Salt Lake City. It's Baby Animal Season at the park until May 25, 2012. Jessica Eyre/Utah Adventurer
Caleb Eyre tries to hang on to a poult, a baby turkey, at the Livery at This is the Place Heritage Park in Salt Lake City. It's Baby Animal Season at the park until May 25, 2012. Jessica Eyre/Utah Adventurer
Caleb Eyre holds one of the baby birds at the Livery at This is the Place Heritage Park in Salt Lake City. It's Baby Animal Season at the park until May 25, 2012. Jessica Eyre/Utah Adventurer
It’s Baby Animal Season at This Is the Place Heritage Park — and what says “spring” more than baby animals?
The usual highlight for my kids is the replica of the Brooklyn, the ship that pioneer settlers sailed from New York around South America to the California coast, then crossed east to Utah. But this visit, I steered them toward the Livery, the barn that houses goats and sheep and cows.
But it’s baby animal season, and that means under the shelter of the wooden barn are large troughs filled with wood shavings. And chicks. And baby turkeys (or poults), ducklings, bunnies, quails and lambs. Not to mention the Teacup piggy, Bisodi. This teeny tiny pink thing turned its adorable snout up to the friendly hands that reached down to give him a pat.
The other fuzzy creatures are available to pick up: Chicks that fit in the palm of even a child’s hand; the turkeys that haven’t grown into the wrinkled sagging skin and fierce eyes of adulthood (they look very similar to chicks with long necks and legs); and the white bunnies with the softest fur I’ve ever felt in my life. The ducklings looked a little too comfy, all 10 or so piled in a heap of fluffy down. We, along with the other visitors when we were there, left them alone to sleep.
Outside the barn, a small group of lambs bounded around a large pen. Patrons are invited in to pet these playful animals. On opening weekend, each lamb had a blue or pink bandana around its neck to identify its gender. And each lamb had a letter on the bandanas. Over those three days, patrons were invited to nominate a name for each lamb that corresponded to the letter.
We had fun making our own nominations — names that belonged to fellow classmates at school or cousins — and we proudly gave our nominations to the park employee.
A pony ride completed our tour of the animal stables, and a stroll down the wooden walkways brought us to the Shaving Parlor. In all the times I’ve visited the park, I’ve never walked into this building. A man working as the “barber” gave us a brief history of what the barbershop’s function was in the town. Not only could men get a hot shave and a haircut, but sick people were brought there to have their blood drained through a vein in their arm. The red, white and blue pole outside the shop stands for Blood (red), Veins (blue) and Bandages and Cleanliness (white). There is always something to learn here.
Baby Animal Season continues through May 25. It’s a great way to celebrate spring and visit the park before the heat of summer hits.
This Is the Place Heritage Park
Where: 2601 E. Sunnyside Ave., Salt Lake City
Hours: Monday-Saturday 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Sunday 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
Admission: $7 adults, $5 seniors 55 and older and children 11 and younger. Children 2 and younger are free. Sundays are $2 cheaper.
What: It’s Baby Animal Season at the park through May 25. Chicks and ducklings are available for purchase. Other activities include demonstrations, take-home crafts, train rides and walking tours.
Info: (801) 582-1847, www.thisistheplace.org