Welcome back, Sparky: Beloved seal and sea lion show returns to St. Paul's Como Zoo

After a five-year hiatus, a decades-old Minnesota tradition returns to St. Paul's Como Zoo this weekend.

Sparky is back.

The beloved pinniped show that dates back to 1956 — a centerpiece of the state's oldest zoo for generations — will return starting Saturday, in a new home at the zoo. As before it will feature 10 minutes of flipper flapping and keeper patter — but it won't be with just a single sea lion, Instead, a full cast of seven seals and sea lions will be part of the show. Well, maybe seven.

"Animals can be very unpredictable. If one of them decides not to come in when we want them to, or decides not to go out when we want them to, we may have one, we may have three, we may have five. Hopefully not seven, that's a lot to deal with at one time," said senior zookeeper Allison Jungheim, who is also one of the trainers that you might see at the shows. "It is going to be very energetic and very chaotic at the same time, but hopefully a lot of fun."

The show started when KSTP founder Stanley Hubbard lured a traveling animal show to St. Paul, eventually based at the Depression-era Works Progress Administration facility known as Seal Island. It's been remade several times, with a handful of sea lions — and most recently, with a $21 million upgrade that recreates a bit of the Pacific coastline in Como Park. It's now known as the Como Harbor exhibit.

There was a hitch, though: The Sparky shows were interrupted for construction in 2017 and were expected to return in 2019. But when digging started, crews found an unmapped sewer line buried under the old exhibit. A string of bad weather and other issues delayed work even more, Jungheim said.

"Shipping delays. Construction delays. COVID. Everything put a damper on the movement forward of Como Harbor," she said.

So it's been nearly five years since audiences gathered around the amphitheater on the north side of the zoo grounds.

The zoo has also expanded its holdings, now with two grey seals, three sea lions and two harbor seals. Some were born in captivity, while others are rescues that are unlikely to survive in the wild.

The staples of the show are actually animal care behaviors, with the seals and sea lions showing keepers their teeth, eyes, and flippers and skin for veterinary exams.

"But there's also some fun, flashy behaviors," Jungheim said. "The hoop jumps, the ball balances, the speed swims and porpoising. And so you'll see all of it. You'll see a good mixture of everything, and you know each animal has their own repertoire of behaviors. ... Some may have a little bit less than others, but some have more."

The new Como Harbor features a saltwater pool with a transparent front, to see the animals underwater, as well as a large stepped amphitheater with wheelchair access, and now with a massive sun shade — a welcome relief from the concrete baking pan that used to hold crowds at the zoo. The city has also added new restrooms and food service to the site.

"It's a beautiful place," Toni Schrantz of Shoreview said Wednesday as she visited the exhibit with her daughter and grandchildren. "I came here as a kid. For years. Many, many times. And my parents came. We had picnics on the grounds. It's been fabulous."

The Como Harbor exhibit is also designed to be open year-round for the seals and sea lions, so the shows are tentatively now scheduled to run at least into the fall; they used to end Labor Day weekends. They're free, like the zoo itself, although the city asks for donations from visitors as they enter, and online reservations are still required to get in.

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