Saturday’s Earth Day Celebration brought an estimated 1,600 people to the Great Bend Brit Spaugh Zoo.

The headcount by 11:30 a.m. was over 1,000, according to Zoo Supervisor Ashley Burdick. Activities continued into the afternoon.

The crowd exceeded expectations and families waited in a long line just to enter the zoo at the official starting time of 11 a.m. They received canvas bags to carry all of the freebies that would be handed out during the event.

Another long line formed outside the Ed Shed, where children could meet Curious George, the title character of the famous children’s books and animated TV series. He was there as part of the Smoky Hills Public Television “Family Fun Day,” which was incorporated into the Earth Day Celebration.

“A lot of people had fun,” Burdick said at the end of the day.

In addition to the zoo, the celebration was sponsored by Rosewood ECycle and Great Bend Dairy Queen. Several other groups had crafts or giveaways.

Although it took awhile to get in and there were lines at all of the booths, there was plenty of room to spread out inside the zoo to view the animals.