September FALCONERS Event 2025

PLEASE READ ALL OF THE INFORMATION BEFORE REGISTERING!

If the event becomes 'sold out' you can join the waitlist.

Please include your name, how many will be coming, if your family has any allergies and if you need any accommodations. Attendance to the event is required so we do not waste food. Thank you :)

The FALCONERS event for September is our annual dinner event! We are holding a special dinner just for our FALCONERS families in the safari room inside the zoo. The meal is provided by Olive Garden (Okemos location). Your family will have to register to come to the event and have dinner. You will need to let us know the number of meals you would like. Due to the limited number of meals available, you MUST pre-register. Unfortunately, we will not be able to provide meals to families that are not pre-registered. Please make sure you sign up for a meal for each person in your family who would like one. (Ex. If you sign up for 4 people we will provide you with 4 dinner tickets.) In order to allow us to serve the most families, we are asking that you please limit your meal requests to your immediate family. You must attend the event to receive a meal. If you are not comfortable sitting at the zoo and eating, you may take the food home, we ask that you let us know this when filling out the registration by clicking 'to-go'... there will be a seperate room where we will be dispersing to-go food. The event is free, but because it is limited, commitment to coming to the event is required. Before signing up please consider the following:

• Due to the limited number of meals available, only immediate family and/or caregivers please. We want as many families as possible to be able to enjoy the dinner! If you are considering registering for a group/organization please contact Mariah Martinez ([email protected]) before registering.

• You can eat your meal anytime between 5:30 PM and 7:30 PM. The zoo will close promptly at 8:00 PM and all families will need to leave. You can also walk the zoo after your meal. Last time to enter the zoo and grab food is 7:30 PM.

• Please only sign up if you can come eat at the zoo or pick it up. This event is very special and we don't want any food to go to waste. We always have a waitlist so we want to accomodate those that can make it, if possible. If you have to cancel or cannot make it, please let us know as soon as possible. We will have a wait list available for those that try to sign up after we have reached 200 dinners. We cannot go higher than 200 meals.

• If you decide to pick up the meals and take them home that is okay! It is okay to only have one family member pick them up if needed.

• The meals will be pasta dishes with choices of that include vegetarian and gluten free options. The sauces available will be alfredo, meat sauces and marinara. Meat options will be chicken, meatballs and Italian sausage. Bread and salad is included as well. You can say you don’t want something if you have allergies to the food but you cannot substitute or request extra. We will have a gluten free rotini and marinara option for those that request it.

• As the event gets closer we will continue to update those registered. If you are not registered for the event, we cannot provide you a meal the day of. We usually try to be very flexible with our events but given the unique and limited nature of this event, we will be unable to accommodate individuals or families who are not registered.

Other than the meal, you will have a opportunity to walk around the zoo.

Recap:

5:30-7:30 PM - Dinner available in the Safari Room - there will be plenty of food, we may ask you to walk around the zoo and come back if the Safari Room is full for seating.

8:00 PM - Zoo closes

What is FALCONERS? FALCONERS is designed to allow children or adults of all ages with special needs and unique challenges (such as autism or developmental disabilities) and their whole family to have an enriching educational experience in a safe, welcoming and sensory friendly environment.

Thank you to our food sponsor, Olive Garden (Okemos)!!!

Thank you to our program sponsor, MiAble!

Food Options, you can bring in food if you feel the food being offered would not be well liked by any of your family members!

Dinner:

Create Your Own Pasta Station includes:

2 pastas: Spaghetti and Fettuccine

3 sauces: Alfredo, Meat Sauce** and Marinara

3 toppings: Grilled Chicken, Meatballs and Italian Sausage

And as always enjoy our famous salad and fresh baked breadsticks.

Gluten Sensitive Options: Rotini Pasta, Marinara, Meat Sauce, Salad, Breadsticks (not Olive Garden), Grilled Chicken, Italian Sausage, Tomato Sauce, Meat Sauce and Marinara(has Soy)

Dairy Free Options: Marinara, Meat Sauce, Tomato Sauce, Salad, Italian Sausage, Rotini Pasta, Grilled Chicken

Gluten free, soy free and dairy free option: Rotini Pasta, Tomato Sauce, Grilled Chicken and Italian Sausage, Salad*

We will have options other than the Olive Garden Dressing available for those with allergies.

Dessert Options:

Chocolate Chip Cookies (Baked Goods by Dominic)

Chocolate Chip Cookies (OhMi Organics - low allergen, contains cocount)

SkinnyPop Popcorn

Beverage Choices

Variety of Pop

Water

Juice Boxes

*At anytime some of these items mentioned are subject to change.

Please reach out to Mariah Martinez, if you have questions: [email protected]

Host or Publisher Potter Park Zoo