After a hiatus of nearly a decade, visitors will once again be able to see bison at the Great Bend Brit Spaugh Zoo beginning this weekend.

The zoo’s new bison exhibit will open for the first time, weather permitting, Friday from 5-7 p.m. for an introduction event for Great Bend Zoological Society members only.

Members will have a chance to meet Breeze and Gus, the zoo’s two new bison, who arrived last week from the Sedgwick County Zoo in Wichita. According to the Great Bend Zoological Society Facebook page, during tonight’s special event, “Keepers will be on hand to talk with Zoo Society members about American Bison and answer all questions.” Entrance for the event will be at Gate 4 outside the southwest corner of the bison exhibit.

According to Zoo Supervisor and Curator Ashley Burdick, the exhibit will then open to the public for the first time when the zoo opens Saturday.

Breeze and Gus are children of Boomer, who was born in 2009 at Great Bend Brit Spaugh Zoo, during the previous run of the bison exhibit. The previous bison exhibit was torn down in 2010, according to Burdick.

Planning for the new bison exhibit began in 2016 when the zoo received a $230,000 grant from the Dorothy M. Morrison Foundation which included provisions to renovate the grizzly bear exhibit, a project which was completed in May 2018, and to eventually reintroduce the bison exhibit to the zoo. According to Burdick, the work on the bison exhibit was completed in the fall of 2019, however the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic delayed the zoo actually bringing the animals in until last week.

Burdick feels the bison exhibit is an important one to have at the zoo because of the animal’s historical and cultural significance to the region. It gives the zoo a chance to educate visitors on the history of the bison on the plains, including having been hunted to near extinction in the late 19th century.

For those who wish to attend Friday night’s event, but are not currently Great Bend Zoological Society members, Burdick said memberships would be available for purchase at the door prior to the start. Along with special events like the bison exhibit opening, the $25 annual family membership also provides gift shop discounts, as well as discounts at other zoos in Kansas.

The Great Bend Brit Spaugh Zoo is currently open 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. daily.