Editor’s Note: This holiday season, please support your Zoo with a gift of $30 or more in honor of our 30th anniversary and your most treasured Zoo memories from the past three decades. Your support will help this special place stay special for the next 30 years and beyond. 

More than 30 years ago, Melissa Zeligman created one of the many bricks that still lines Brevard Zoo’s walkways. With her fellow kindergarteners at Turner Elementary School, she put her name on it along with the school’s tiger mascot – and a little heart.   

Melissa knows exactly where to find her brick – just outside the Paws On area. She’s shown off her brick to her two sons, 4-year-old Elijah and 10-month-old Ezra.    

It’s a little bizarre to realize she has a child around the age she was when she made her brick, Melissa said! The brick is just one of the many memories she and her family have made at our Zoo.     

“It’s kind of a staple for the Brevard area,” Melissa said. “Even after I ventured out of the county, it’s a superior Zoo that we keep going back to.” 

Melissa remembers countless family and school events at the Zoo throughout her childhood. Despite living in Orlando, she and her family have come even more often as adults! Melissa and her children often utilize her parents’ membership.   

Even before she had her own children, she took her niece and nephew to the Zoo’s splash pad on hot summer days. When they grew into teens, those splash pad days were behind them for a bit – until Melissa’s children came along!   

“We’ve had multiple generations come through our Zoo and experience the different pieces of it,” Melissa said.   

Family-friendly Halloween event Boo at the Zoo is a family favorite now, and the family loves to grab a photo feeding the giraffes. Ask Elijah for his favorite, however, and the answer will no doubt be the meerkats. He’d explore the meerkat tunnel and watch the meerkat mob for as long as they’d let him.  

The Zoo has been a constant landmark throughout her memories, Melissa said. She has no doubt it will continue to be in the years to come.  

“We just keep coming back to the Brevard Zoo.,” Melissa said. “It’s an exceptional Zoo.”