OCEAN CITY — The annual home show in Ocean City next month will have an added amenity this year after resort officials this month signed off on a petting zoo for the event.
The Home and Condo Show, along with the Arts and Crafts Fair and the O.C. Pet Expo, is set for the weekend of Oct. 22-25 at the Roland E. Powell Convention Center. Last week, Convention Center Director Larry Noccolino and Jeanette Trimper of Ocean Promotions, the event’s promoter, came before the Mayor and Council seeking approval to add a petting zoo and pony rides to the annual event.
The proposal calls for a small animal petting zoo in coordination with the Funny Farm Petting Zoo out of Salisbury. Inside the exhibit halls at the convention center, children attending the Home and Condo Show with their parents could visit the small animal petting zoo with kid-friendly animals including bunnies, ducklings, bearded dragon lizards, chicks, and guinea pigs, for example.
Outside, in a cordoned-off area of the convention center parking lot, the event would host miniature pony rides for children under 50 pounds on Saturday of the annual home and condo show and pet expo. A town ordinance prohibits certain exotic animals, which is why the promoter and Noccolino had to come before the Mayor and Council for approval.
However, those rules have often been bent for the private sector in recent years. For example, this summer the council approved a special permit request from the Barn Hill Preserve in Delaware to bring certain exotic animals to private businesses for display. Noccolino explained the non-domesticated animal permit for the convention center show had been reviewed through the proper channels.
“It’s unique and it’s interesting,” he said. “We went through the risk manager, the health department, and the city solicitor. We got approval from all of them.”
Trimper said allowing the small animal petting zoo at the Home and Condo Show would attract more families with small children.
“We are proposing to do a small animal petting zoo,” she said. “This is something we want to incorporate to bring more families to the Home and Condo show.”
Trimper said adding the miniature pony rides outside would be an added amenity for families with small children attending the annual event.
“These are small animals you would see in a typical pet store,” she said. “We also want to have two miniature ponies for pony rides outside.”
The council approved the special permit with a 6-0 vote with Councilman John Gehrig absent.
