Maryland Zoo's Brew at the Zoo returns Memorial Day weekend

The zoo calls the event its largest fundraiser and Baltimore’s biggest craft beverage festival, and the scale helps explain why. Guests will be able to sample more than 80 craft beverages, including beer, wine, hard seltzer and nonalcoholic drinks, while moving through the zoo grounds for animal encounters, food vendors, special drink stations and three live bands each day. The zoo will open at 10 a.m. and stay open until 6 p.m., giving visitors a full-day draw that extends well beyond the festival’s afternoon and evening hours.

Brew’s appeal also comes from the activities layered on top of the beverage program. Charm City Trivia will run in the Waterfowl Pavilion at 2 p.m., 3 p.m., 4 p.m. and 5 p.m., while Volo Sports will bring flip cup at 2:30 p.m. and beer pong at 4:30 p.m. A watermelon-eating contest is part of the lineup as well, with separate competitions for kids ages 5 to 13 and adults 14 and older. At 4:30 p.m., the zoo’s grizzly bear enrichment is scheduled to give visitors another reason to linger.

This year’s event adds a new wrinkle with pop-up tattoos from Tiger’s Eye Collective, offered first-come, first-served for adults 18 and older. The zoo is also using the entrance as a conservation message and an incentive: guests can skip the line by donating an old cell phone or small electronic device, or by giving a $20 cash donation. The zoo’s electronics recycling program is tied to Eco-Cell, which reuses or salvages materials from donated devices and keeps them out of landfills while reducing the need to mine for new minerals.