CityWatch: Here’s to 50 years at Riverbanks Zoo, and 50 more (2024)

“Happy the tiger, one of the first animals to call Riverbanks home, wasn’t originally at the zoo when he came to Columbia. Instead, he could be found right off Gervais Street at Constan Car Wash.” -- May 8, Post and Courier

Thus began the remarkable story of Riverbanks Zoo & Botanical Garden, which is now celebrating its 50th anniversary. To say Riverbanks has been a success is an understatement. And a big one at that.

Indeed, among Columbia’s many struggles over the years to develop and maintain publicly funded projects (from the failure of Air South to the costly collapse of the original convention center hotel deal to the demise and neglect of Finlay Park, and so on), Riverbanks Zoo & Botanical Garden is a shining star of success.

But who would have thunk it when a local businessman bought Happy the tiger from the Chicago Zoo and put him at his downtown Columbia car wash as a way to build interest in building a zoo here.

That local business executive and civic leader wasO. Stanley Smith, and his vision lives on five decades later.

Smith’s promotional idea that people would go to a car wash to see a tiger was as wonderful as it was weird. And it worked.

Momentum built behind the idea of developing a zoo in Columbia, and in 1974 the gates opened at Riverbanks Zoo. It was set on a beautiful site along the Saluda River at the edge of downtown, and both locals and visitors instantly loved it.

Of course, any accounting of the history and success of Riverbanks Zoo & Botanical Garden must pay tribute to its former longtime executive director, Satch Krantz. Taking on the job at the age of 27, Satch stayed at the helm for 40 years. It is not hyperbole to say that the zoo’s success is his success.

Known in the international zoological world as a “Silverback” of the profession, Satch stepped down in 2017 after building Riverbanks into South Carolina’s top individual tourist attraction and giving Midlands residents something we can all point to with pride.

These are all great memories for me, as my firm handled the advertising for Riverbanks Zoo & Garden from 1990 to 2005. Our first recommendation to Satch and marketing director Mary Leverette was to broaden the awareness of and interest in Riverbanks by extending its advertising beyond the Columbia market across South Carolina and into both North Carolina and Georgia.

They agreed, and we produced and placed lively and memorable television spots that went on the air in Charlotte, Asheville, Augusta, Greenville, Charleston and Florence, dramatically raising the profile of Riverbanks in a 200-mile radius.

The long-running campaign was called The Zoo Rocks, and featured a series of classic rock songs ("Wild Thing," "Born to Be Wild," "Take a Walk on the Wild Side" and others) along with magnificent animals and a fine and fun actor, Columbia’s own Bill Roberson, as the Zoo Guy.

His performances in the spots were the key toboth Riverbanks and my firm winning many advertising awards for the spots, including the top honor of Best Tourism Campaign from Southern Living magazine.

Bill would go on from the Zoo spots to appear in some very big movies, including having lines with Tom Hanks in "Forest Gump," Robin Williams in "Patch Adams" and Mel Gibson in "The Patriot," along with many other films and TV shows before being taken by cancer way too soon at 59.

It all seemed to work for Riverbanks as the marketing investment paid off, with attendance climbing sharply from those bordering TV markets and Columbia’s zoo— our zoo— becoming the regional destination it remains today.

Here’s to the past 50 years at Riverbanks Zoo & Garden. And the next 50 to come.