busch gardens tampa turns 49
tommy permalink | categories: 366, entertainment, history, names, otd, things to doby tommy @ 5:30 pm
On this day in 1959, Busch Gardens opened in Tampa.
… beer-brewer Anheuser - Busch started up a beer garden (with free beer) and a bird show at the front of its new brewery in Tampa. It opened on March 31, 1959 as an admission-free hospitality facility for the Tampa Anheuser-Busch brewery on the grounds of the manufacturing plant. Visitors could watch bird shows and animal acts in a tropical setting and before leaving the grounds entered a beer garden offering free Busch beer to drink. Hundreds of exotic birds filled the fully interactive Bird Gardens, all for free admission.
Just as it is today, the birds roamed free, where the guests were free to pet them. Millions visited, and in a stroke of brilliance wildlife-lover August A. Busch Jr. added the 29-acre Serengeti Plains in 1965 (eventually expanded to 70 acres.) The gigantic Serengeti Plain allowed the African wildlife to roam freely and became the largest, free-roaming habitat outside of Africa. It remains one of the most unique features of the park to this day and has received numerous upgrades and expansions.
So Happy Birthday, Busch Gardens.
In addition to the TampaPix presentation of old images of Busch Gardens, Check the official Busch Gardens Tampa Bay website, and the unofficial Busch Gardens fan site, BGTGuide. Don’t forget, the new Jungala section opens this weekend.
I suppose you will hear more about a Busch Gardens Birthday next year, when they turn 50.
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March 31st, 2008 at 5:47 pm
A little labor history from the ol’ BG.
Also, a 2002 Tampa Tribune article about history of BG.
April 1st, 2008 at 10:23 am
That is interesting history. I like to learn about the history of things that I take for granted around Tampa.