This is a little hidden gem, that I didn't even know existed!…read more We ended up seeing fennec foxes, emus, wolves, different birds species, turtles and tortoises species, as well as bison, horses, goats, wallaby's and a few more exotic ones that I am missing. They also had your normal household animals, like skunks, raccoons and other animals that were rehabilitated that no longer can be released into the wild This is a nonprofit organization, so all of the donations and proceeds, go to helping the animals We ended up purchasing a Groupon for two people. We did not have an encounter for this one, but noticed that you could purchase that. We ended up buying cones field with feed for the animals, such as the donkey, goats and the horses, and they have a nice feeding area, so you can pet and feed them as well. The education Center was unfortunately closed, and the gift shop is tiny, but there's more than enough to do at this little zoo It only took us about an hour and a half to get through all of the exhibits

We went on a slightly drizzly Sunday after brunch and it seemed like we had the zoo to ourselves…read morebecause the parking lot was empty except for one other car. When we asked if there were any other visitors we were told no one else in the past hour. Admission is a fair price for this small zoo that had plenty of animals to keep us interested for a couple of hours. It was nice to see the bobcats active and the monkey swinging around. Lots of peahens and the peacock was fun to see perched in different places. We were amazed to get a symphony of howling, yapping, barking, neighing, and other animal chatter while we were there. The staff in the Education Center was friendly, alert and readily answered our questions about the animals. If you like feeding the animals, buy a cone of food at the admissions booth to feed the hoofed animals. Careful when feeding the goats. I was taking a picture of my daughter feeding a goat and I was within reaching distance of the goat who craned its neck over the fence and swiftly chomped on the cone of food. I was startled but it was quite hilarious.

I enjoy browsing through their homemade crafts. Recently and in the past I've purchased birdhouses…read moreas gifts and the recipients love them!

Annually, the town of Windsor Locks holds a food drive on the Saturday before Thanksgiving. It's a…read morecoordinated effort that involves WL Social Services, the Lions Club, local Boys Scouts, town businesses, and over 100 volunteers. Kudos to hard-working Heidi, WL town director of Social Services, and Wonderful Wendy, director of Youth Serices. Heidi puts her heart and soul into the effort, spending many late nights in preparation. Wendy assists with many other tasks. The goal is to obtain Thanksgiving food (turkeys, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, fresh veggies, etc, etc) for over 200 families who qualify for assistance, and also to replenish shelves in the pantry to help in the months to come. The Lions Club arranges for pickups in all neighborhoods in town between 9AM and noon (Boy Scouts collect the bags from porches). All items are dropped off in front of town hall and ferried inside by runners. Once inside, in the old gym, a veritable army of mostly teens check dates and sort products by type. I liken it to organized chaos more than synchronized swimming. Non-Thanksgiving products are then shuttled to the pantry where Heidi's asst, Darling Debbie, as well as Gracious Gabby, Affable Anne, and Cool Kristen work their magic. By 3 PM, most of the work is done, w some teen volunteers making up approx 200 bags of non-perishable Thanksgiving items. All for pickup Sunday between 2 and 4 PM by a conga line of vehicles that snake thru the parking lot. Special thanks also to Foodshare who donated large quantities of carrots, onions, and potatoes (sweet and white), as well as 32 turkeys and 20 chickens!! Overall, a success, as over 200 families get to enjoy all the trimmings of a holiday meal. 5 rewarding stars AND PLEASE READ THE ATTACHED POEM THAT HEIDI WROTE AND POSTED ON THE TOWN'S FACEBOOK PAGE THE EVE OF THE EVENT.

Saw great show there played 70s songs really liked the vibe. Nice acoustics! How to drink at the…read morebar, and we enjoy the show.

Such a great venue! It's beautiful and has so much to look at! Very historical! Great vibes and…read morepeople

This is more or less a service for people who need food assistance/hot meals and not financially…read moreset or have fallen on hard times & the place here has been serving food for awhile however some people due to website information from the local government may have it at a old location & not the one in the photo which I took (note I did email the town about the matter so hopefully all parties can get this information corrected).

Beautiful place! Trails are amazing. If you pay to go inside the money goes to support wildlife. We…read morehad an excellent afternoon hiking and playing in the brook.

We went on a Monday but the nature center was closed. This was fine because I wanted to walk on the…read morered trail (Werner Pond Trail); this trail is half a mile long and it's flat. The walk was very easy with some roots and rocks. There were views of the brook which was peaceful and the sound of flowing water was lovely. There were information cards everywhere detailing which wildlife lived in these woods. There were a couple of small bridges; one was on concrete and fenced in. We also walked over to the butterfly garden. They did a great job with maintaining this land. I can't wait to go back to check out the nature center and the other trails. Since it's early spring, there were no vegetation; I'm sure in the summer this place gets super lush greenery. They also offer many programs and activities; The Children's Museum in West Hartford is also affiliated with them.

This community donation center has great drop off hours. They accept mostly anything for donations…read moreas well. The center is always clean and the staff is very friendly. The best part about them is that if you have a large donation they'll come to your house and pick it up! (They're the ones who slip that neon green paper into your mail box). Overall good place that helps the community!

You may have donated a few cans of soup to Foodshare over the years, but did you know they have…read moreCommunity Service volunteer opportunities for you and your team, either in Windsor or Hartford? Our offices sent a team of 14 over to Windsor this morning and we spent three hours sorting meats and poultry donated by local supermarket chains. There were many job functions and stations necessary for us to sort through 5,950 pounds of food. When the food is donated by supermarkets, all of the different meats are stored in a Foodshare walk-in freezer in big plastic bins- so the bins were full of every sort of meat found in your supermarket's meat and poultry cases. Here is what we did: Station # 1 - Big pallets full of the bins that the frozen meats were packed were delivered to us via forklift. We opened up the bins and sorted the meat by type- beef, ground beef, poultry, pork, lamb, veal, specialty, sausage, bacon, etc. Stations # 2, 3, 4, 5, -The sorted meats went to a dedicated line where teams packaged cartons for the specific types of meats. We put a sticker on the outside of the carton (beef or poultry, etc.), inspected each package for damaged packaging, marked over the UPC with a Sharpie, put a Foodshare sticker on each package, and weighed the cartons we were creating so they clocked in between 28 and 32 pounds. When a box was completed, it was stacked on a rolling cart. Station # 6 -The rolling carts were brought over to a ten degree walk in freezer where the finished cartons were stacked by category onto pallets - 24 boxes to a pallet. Station # 7 -The bins we emptied out had to be wiped down, sanitized and restacked. It was a lot of fun to see how everyone worked together doing all of these different tasks. After a while, we were efficiently working as though we were a team that had been doing this work for 5 years. It was quite a rewarding experience. Go grab your work buddies and give it a go.

In lieu of favors at our wedding last month, Jason M. and I made a donation to Foodshare. It was a…read moreno-brainer to select this charity because they have served many families in-need in the Hartford area. Making a donation was very easy to do online. Not only did I get a thank you card, I also got a thank phone call from a representative! I felt good that my donation was very appreciated. Thus, I will continue to support Foodshare whenever I am in the financial situation to give.