‘A shift in focus’: How Des Moines tourist attractions are continuing to stay relevant

Story and photos by Emily Blobaum

Editor’s note: A version of this story ran in an April edition of the Business Record. The lessons these cultural and educational organizations learned about resiliency are as relevant today as they were at the start of the pandemic. 

The gates, doors and windows of Des Moines-area attractions all said the same thing in late March: closed. 

But the animals at the Blank Park Zoo were still being fed. The plants at the Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden were still being watered. The Polk County Conservation trails at Jester Park remained open. The sculptures and paintings at the Des Moines Art Center were still being monitored. 

Yet nearly everything else about what these organizations were doing had shifted. 

In order to continue carrying out missions of being resources of education, recreation and exploration for the community, these organizations all turned to social media to continue providing virtual programming. 

Here’s a look at how they did it. 

Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden

In terms of a strategy to stay relevant, perhaps the Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden’s can be summed up in a quote posted on its Facebook page on March 19: Never underestimate the healing power of a quiet moment in the garden.

Many studies have shown that spending time in nature has numerous benefits. Doing so can lower blood pressure, help with depression and anxiety, and reduce stress. Mental health experts have said this is even more important now. 

Normally, the Botanical Garden prides itself on being a space for people to reap those benefits while learning about the variety of plants within its spaces. 

But after closing its doors on March 16 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the question of how the garden could continue to provide that experience to the public when people can’t come and visit became one that Kelly Norris, director of horticulture and education, was tasked with solving. 

“Our business model is largely predicated on people coming to this place, and so one of the things we’re talking about as a leadership team is … how can we find ways to create an economic model for the institution long-term around [providing information, knowledge and content],” Norris said in April. 

Norris hopes that by posting photos and videos of plants on social media, the Botanical Garden can provide its audience a brief moment of calm and reprieve from the world right now. 

“I think it’s about bringing people back to what’s important. Slow down, calm down and stop to smell the roses,” David Regan, assistant director of retail and guest experience, added. 

Blank Park Zoo 

Usually, the spring would be the beginning of the busy season for the Blank Park Zoo, particularly for the education department. 

Hundreds of programs that the 10-person team normally presents to libraries, schools and senior centers in all 99 counties every summer had to shift online. 

Fortunately for the zoo, the transition to move all programming online and ramp up social media efforts felt almost effortless in that they already had the team, equipment and expertise on hand. 

Led by Chief Marketing Officer Ryan Bickel, the zoo managed to post something different every day through its #ClosedButStillCaring and #BringingTheZooToYou campaigns. 

Bickel was able to incorporate animal enclosure webcams that were already installed in animal enclosures into the regular social media lineup.

Cameras typically used for monitoring lions, Japanese macaques, red pandas, giraffes and other animals were able to be rigged to stream live on Facebook. 

“We’ve done some tests before but we thought this was the perfect time to debut [the livestreams], and people have responded well,” Bickel said. 

Des Moines Art Center 

When the Des Moines Art Center announced its closure to its board of directors in March, Jason Gross, an Art Center board member and vice president of innovation at EMC Insurance Cos., brought up a secret weapon in his arsenal: a Matterport system that EMC normally uses to scan spaces when filing claims. 

He asked if the system was something the Art Center would be interested in using to create a virtual tour of its galleries. 

“After I picked my jaw up off the floor … [the answer was] yes,” Jordan Powers, director of marketing and public relations, said. “This has been a dream of mine for a long time.” 

Ten days later, Powers and Gross spent seven hours scanning gallery spaces throughout the Art Center’s three buildings, ending up with 436 individual scans.  

Powers described the partnership as an amazing combination of timing and resources. 

“We’re forever grateful that out of the darkness and uncertainty of the current moment that we’re in, we’ve had this opportunity.” 

The plan is to keep the virtual tour up after the pandemic. 

“A huge component of our mission is to provide transformative art experiences,” Powers said. “And a large portion of that is accessibility. We have our art center lovers that come here no matter what, but there are people that will never be able to make it here. To have the ability to still ‘walk through our galleries’ and see our collections is really important to us.”

Polk County Conservation 

Polk County Conservation naturalists Heidi Anderson and Nikki Dunbar are used to speaking with busloads of kids about insects, birds, snakes, fish, plants and the night sky. 

But taking those programs and presenting them through a phone? That took some getting used to. 

Under normal circumstances, Anderson and Dunbar are able to get immediate feedback from their audiences. They can tell if people are bored or interested and can respond to questions right away. They can clarify answers. 

That’s not possible through Facebook Live, a platform that Polk County Conservation has used several times in the past few months to continue its educational programming. 

“If you accidentally misspeak, you can’t go back and correct it. There’s more pressure to be as accurate and concise as possible, and you don’t want to ramble on,” Dunbar said. “It also forces me to watch myself [afterward] and change things that I think are a problem, like nervous tics.”

Other learning curves included adjusting their speaking volume, making eye contact with the camera and knowing which spaces within Jester Park Nature Center have the strongest Wi-Fi signals. 

But feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. 

“It’s opened our eyes to different ways to educate people. … I would still like to utilize it every once in a while,” Anderson said.

How you can continue supporting these organizations: 

Des Moines Art Center: 

Take the virtual tour.

Purchase a membership. 

Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden: 

Become a member.

Polk County Conservation: 

Watch programming on the Jester Park Facebook page.

Use its trails and outdoor spaces responsibly while practicing social distancing. 

Blank Park Zoo: 

Donate online. 

Become a member.