(cheerful music) - Will you consider this?

It's a wild story in its own way and obviously it's pearls here today.

I have Roberta English with me.

She is the CEO at Wildlife Prairie Park.

- Thank you for having me.

- And we had our wedding reception at Wildlife Prairie Park many, many, many years ago.

Was pretty brand new then, and it was awesome.

And it's getting awesomer and awesomer every day.

- Thank you so much.

We do over 80 weddings.

This year I don't know, it was more than 80 this year, but we average about 80 weddings every year.

So that's a thing that brings, ties a lot of people to the park, so I love to hear that.

- Good, good.

- And you're still married, so it must be special.

- [Christine] It works.

- We have the magic touch at the park.

- Well it's kind of, there are certain animals who stay together for everything and, so maybe we're in that category.

Anyway, let's learn about Roberta English.

You are not from here.

- Nope.

- Did you know where Peoria was when you were growing up?

You're from the south side of Chicago originally.

- I had heard of it only because of Bradley University.

I knew lots of people who went to Bradley to study engineering.

That was the thing in the 80s, I remember, people going to Bradley to do engineering.

But I started coming to Peoria in the 90s.

I had some friends who lived here and my goddaughter was born here.

And so we would visit every year and mostly around New Year's Eve, I would come and be in Peoria for New Year's, for many, many years.

So that was about all I knew about it.

It's cold in winter.

And that's where I went for New Year's to hang out with my friends.

- Chicago was the same.

So you grew up, you went to school in the Chicago area.

And you attended college?

- Yep, I'm from the south side of Chicago and my parents told me I couldn't leave the state.

So I lived in South Shore and I just was straight up the lake to Evanston.

And then that's where I lived.

- [Christine] Okay.

And what did you major in?

- In journalism.

- In journalism?

- So I went to Madill and we, it was a wonderful time.

I've always been a journalist.

Became a journalist in high school actually.

And I was just writing professionally and went to Madill like, oh, what else am I gonna do?

And it was a great experience and I was a journalist for a long time.

- Interesting.

Well now you also, so from college, you graduated, and what did you do immediately after college then?

- Immediately after college, I moved to Ireland.

- Aha.

- So I wasn't really, I took a gap year.

They weren't calling it then, but I was younger than everyone 'cause I had skipped a grade and so I was like, "Well, I'm ahead of myself so I might as well take some time off."

And I hadn't been outta the country ever.

We didn't travel growing up and I was like, "Well, where can I go?"

I, at the time I really, in college I studied Japanese and I decided toward the end that I didn't wanna go to Japan.

So I was like, "Well, where am I gonna go?"

I went to Ireland.

- [Christine] That's a lot different.

- Yeah.

- [Christine] Where did you live there and what did you do?

I lived in Drumcondra.

It's a suburb of Dublin.

And I worked in a restaurant.

It was lovely.

- So much history in that country.

I bet you got to travel a lot.

And then did you travel the continent as well?

- I loved being there.

I stayed there until my work permit ran out and then I moved to England and so I was able to have a longer work permit there and travel around, see different places I had never seen.

And I was able to work and travel 'cause I couldn't like do study abroad, you know, I couldn't afford to do that and didn't travel.

So I worked and then I would travel, you know, save up some money and then I would travel.

So, much easier to do when you're over there.

- [Christine] Okay.

Wow.

That's quite a story in itself.

- Yeah, it was great.

- What was your favorite to see over there?

- I loved Ireland.

I got to see quite a bit of it and I... - [Christine] Did you kiss the Blarney Stone or did you pass?

- Oh yeah, I've done that a bunch of times, but the most interesting time I had though, I bought a car when I was over there.

I couldn't drive.

- [Christine] And you had to drive on the wrong side of the road.

- Yeah, except I couldn't drive, so I got someone to ride with me.

- [Christine] Oh gosh.

- And we drove around Britain, but the most interesting times were driving around Wales.

It was very remote at that time, so, I remember those times the most.

- Wow.

Wow.

And then, so you did that, that was your gap year.

And then what did you do once you came back stateside?

- I came back and I got an internship at CNBC in Chicago, in the Chicago Bureau.

And then I just got back into news.

I worked there for a while and then I went to grad school and then was off onto a career in television, so.

- [Christine] And where did you work in television then?

At CNBC or?

- That's where I started as a field producer.

And then I was in DC field producing for a Dallas TV station.

It was like the, Belo was a big company back in the day.

And I was in their bureau.

And then I remember a producer, he was like, "Well, if you ever wanna be on air," he was like, "they're not gonna put you on air, you're in DC, you're gonna have to go do the small market thing."

And finally I was like, "Okay."

And I moved to Fort Smith, Arkansas and that's where I got my first on-air job.

And then I worked a bunch of places until I was in Kansas City and I was working for the Fox affiliate in Kansas City.

And that's when I retired from news was after my second child was born and I was in Kansas City and I was like, "Well, you know," I was like, "I've had enough of TV now."

- Enough of TV news.

Big difference.

- Yes.

- So now I'm from the Cleveland area originally.

And as I was reading things about you, you were in Beechwood, Ohio.

And what, were you working in television then?

- No, I was a stay at home mom.

My youngest child was actually born when I was living in Beechwood.

'Cause I was there eight years.

And it was a great experience living in the Cleveland area with all the Cleveland years, I was coming to Peoria though, you know, even before, for New Year's and in the summertime.

So it was like, I was always coming back to central Illinois.

Had a lot of family who went to U of I.

So I'd be in Champaign, I'd be in Peoria, and I just longed to be in Illinois, and I, for the life of me, did not understand all these people leaving Illinois when I wanted to get back to Illinois.

So I was happy when an opportunity came up for my then husband to get us back to Illinois and we took it.

- And so who was he with that brought you back?

- He was with an insurance agency.

He bought an insurance agency here.

And I didn't care.

I said "I just wanna get back to Illinois and I don't care where it is."

- [Christine] All right.

And it happened to be in Peoria.

- Happened to be Peoria.

- Wow.

- Yeah.

- And then what did you do?

So you stayed home then for a couple years?

- Yeah, I stayed home for quite a while and then for eight years, and when I was in Cleveland still, that's when I started, you know, my kids were, and my youngest was in preschool and I was like, "Well, you know, what am I gonna do?"

And a friend of mine said, "Well, I need somebody who can talk to people and do focus groups."

So I just wound up at the medical school at Case Western doing research and doing focus groups and doing community involvement and really kind of creating a way for the medical school and the doctors to find out information about the patients and how to help them and how to be more culturally competent and how to eliminate health disparities.

And that's how I ended up in nonprofits was on doing health disparities research.

So it was kind of a strange turn of events.

No, when I got here I tried, it's like I wanted to get a job at the Jump Simulation Center was just opening then.

And I was like, "I'm leaving simulation.

Here I am.

They should hire me."

And they didn't.

So.

- What were they thinking?

- I know.

So that's how I ended up at Neighborhood House and doing community involvement.

And the rest is history and I loved it.

- [Christine] So you were at Neighborhood House from when to when?

- I was there six years.

I started, I went there in 2013.

Yeah.

- And now you're at Wildlife Prairie Park.

- Yes.

- So this wild turn of events for your entire adult life, I have to say - Honestly, being at Wildlife Prairie Park is way, it's more different than moving to Ireland when you're 18 years... - [Christine] Tell me about that.

- Yeah, because I never would've thought, I mean, growing up I always wanted to travel, you know, everybody does.

But growing up, I never thought, "Oh, I wanna work at a wildlife park."

I remember my dad used to make us watch Mutual of Omaha and we watched all these shows and... - [Christine] And you would go to zoos and things, right?

- I did love going to zoos.

Me and my kids.

I always belonged to every zoo.

'Cause I've lived a lot of places, and we would make a, we did a spring break one year.

We just visited all the zoos in Ohio.

That's all we did.

I just love those kind of organizations.

And I'm a big museum person.

I love zoos and museums.

So getting a chance to, when Wildlife Prairie Park came open, I was like, "Okay, that's interesting."

And it kinda I had gotten so deep into social service and I loved it.

I just kind of forgot all about, you know, the other side of nonprofits.

A different way to serve people through nature and through art and through, you know, culture.

And so it was an opportunity to go to the other side of nonprofit life.

Yeah.

And I love it.

- Did, so I'm trying to remember because I was at a function where you were talking.

Did somebody say, "Hey, you need to do this," or this just kind of came about?

- Pretty much.

My boss, we were, I was her chief operating officer and she was a CEO and great mentor of mine.

And, you know, one day, we were great partners.

And it's like at the kind of relationship that, you know, it's just hard to find.

Yes.

It's hard to find.

And one day after a meeting, she says, "I think you're ready to run your own ship."

And I was like, "Okay, let me think about that."

And, 'cause I was happy, you know, helping her run that ship at Neighborhood House.

And we were doing so much good work and they still are.

And so I started thinking about, "Okay, ready to run my own ship.

Let me find a ship."

- What I'm supposed to do.

And then how did you hear about this?

I believe you're in Rotary.

- [Roberta] I'm in Rotary, I am.

- And so is that how you heard about it or?

- She told me, actually my boss, she said- - And she wasn't trying to get rid of you or anything.

She just needed you to- - She was about development and I'm the same with my team.

You know, it's like if I see an opportunity for somebody that's working for me and it's an opportunity for them to advance, I'm the first person to tell 'em about.

And I always try to preface it by, "I don't want you to leave" 'cause I never do.

But if there's an opportunity for somebody else to grow, I mean, what else am I doing this for?

I like mentoring people and seeing them grow and develop.

I'm not trying to hold onto them until they stay with me forever.

That's what I love.

I love to see them go on and do other things.

That's the part of the job I really like.

- [Christine] So you're loyal to them as people.

- Absolutely.

Absolutely.

It's the process.

It's about the people.

- I love that.

- We can, you know, raise money for this or that and do this or that, but it's really about the people.

And so, and she was like that.

So that's how, and she was like, "Wildlife Prairie Park."

And I was like, "Okay."

- [Christine] And you had been there.

- Yeah, I'd been there, but I hadn't been there in a really long time.

And I went out one day just to take a walk around and, I started thinking about me and my kids and you know, how we grew up and taking them all these institutions all over the country and seeing opportunity, seeing things that, you know, obviously when I got to the park there was a lot to do in seeing just an opportunity for things to get better and seeing where things could grow and things that needed to be taken care of.

And I was like, "Well this is a project" and I like projects.

So I said yes.

- Well you have been doing a lot there in the time that you've been there.

How long has it been again?

- It's been five years.

- Five years.

And you know how, you had met enough people living in town even though you, you know, you didn't get to go to Jump, but you know how to make things work.

- Yes.

- And you know how to raise money, and in your position, that's what you need.

You need support.

Now, so was it soon after the state was no longer involved with Wildlife Prairie Park that you ended up?

- It was about six years of not being a state park.

So it's been 10 years that we haven't been a state park to almost 11 years.

- But that was a struggling time to come back from that.

- It was rough because the state did not invest in the park.

And so whatever state funding they were getting, I don't know what they were doing it with, if it was even making it to the park.

So bringing it back, thank god for the people that brought it back to being a nonprofit.

But because of that, you don't have state support, things like that.

So we are really operating a business.

We've got 10 businesses really going on at the park of different things that we do to generate revenue and obviously, and through philanthropy, that's how we exist, 'cause that's- - [Christine] 10 businesses.

So what are they?

- Well we've got- - Obviously the animals.

- Sure, we've got the zoo, we've got the farm, we've got our lodging.

You know, it's like the agriculture, there's recreation.

There's so many, you know, little businesses within Wildlife Prairie Park, plus donations, yes.

So we kinda have to operate everything as a business.

The weddings, you know, it's like that's a business.

And so we are, you know, I tell people we're a hotel too, so we have to think about, think of ourselves as a hotel.

So you know, that's, we are doing so many different things at the park as well as, you know, the normal cultural fun, you know, recreational things.

And taking care of a lot of animals.

- [Christine] Exactly.

With how many employees?

- Right now, it's one of the lowest I've seen.

We're always under 50, but I think we're, you know, in the 35 range.

So we do a lot with very few people.

- Mm-hm.

So people need to apply.

Do you have jobs open?

I mean, all the time.

- Yes.

Yes.

And we're seasonal.

We staff up in the summertime.

So we go from a small team to a large team.

But we always need really good people who, you know, are skilled and passionate about nature and the environment and exposing people to nature.

I'm just really proud of all the work, I mean we've done so much.

I couldn't even, it would take me two hours to tell you all the things we've done.

- Well you don't have that much time.

But now, okay, so you had some cabins.

And there's some new cabins that are on tap.

- Yes.

So we have 21 cabins right now.

Three are under construction.

So we'll have 24 really soon.

We're also going to be building more.

There is definitely a demand for lodging here and we're excited about how that's going.

We're also gonna be building an RV park, a really nice one, on the property.

- On the property or across the street from the property?

- Across the street.

- Okay.

All right.

Because you own that area as well.

- The park is 1800 acres.

So it's bigger than you think.

You know, people think of Wildlife Prairie Park as this, but it's really like this.

So we are gonna utilize our land to, you know, grow in areas where we need to grow and we're gonna build more cabins.

We've got seven lakes that you can fish on.

We're gonna be putting cabins on lakes.

We'll be doing more, we've got a lot of tent camping going on already.

So just expanding so we can be that destination that, or place people not just in our area utilize, but, you know, from 50 miles away or more.

- Are the cabins pretty well busy all the time?

- [Roberta] On the weekends, absolutely.

Absolutely, especially in the summertime.

- And then you have housekeeping for the cabins.

- We do.

We have a housekeeping staff, a great housekeeping staff.

And so it's a lot.

So, you know, it's a business.

It's a lot.

- Now I know that, you know, some of the playground areas, some things need some updating 'cause they've been there for a long time.

And again, with the state having taken over and neglecting it, what are the biggest projects that you have to work on to bring it up to date, up to, you know, code I guess?

- What I'm focusing on for 2025 is park for all.

It's kind of what we've been doing for the last couple years.

Just trying to update things.

Our ADA bathrooms, our ADA playgrounds, you know, we don't have any, we're gonna, we raise money to fund one, and we're really excited that that will go in construction in the spring.

But there's, we have three playgrounds at the park that aren't accessible and we wanna get all of them updated.

We want some of our pathways or trails to be more accessible for people who have difficulty walking or in wheelchairs.

So doing those kind of things.

We got our train, our train started running right before Scary Park this year.

Our train that has the wheelchair cart.

So we only have one and sometimes there was a line, so I need another wheelchair cart.

So it's just making the park more accessible and it's having success.

We've got, not only do we have 195 field trips this year from schools.

We had field trips from senior centers, which was fantastic.

You know, there was one day at Scary Park where up where you normally see strollers, it was a bunch of walkers, where, 'cause Independence Village came and brought, you know, a group of people to come and enjoy the park.

And that's what I wanna see.

- So they had wheelchairs and walkers and canes and everything.

- And they rode the train.

They had a great time.

And that's, we wanna be a park for all.

We wanna see everybody coming out to the park, not forgetting Wildlife Prairie Park.

We're still here, we're still open and we wanna have something for everyone.

- And you know, when it very first opened, we didn't have ADA regulations at the time.

So that has been a real transformation for you.

- 46 years.

Which just, I mean, I don't know how many bathrooms we have.

There's a lot of them.

And so, you know, just methodically going by, going through and updating them as we've updated many and there's many more to do.

- So do you have a facilities person who keeps track of all that?

So that, "Okay, well this one's in really bad shape.

We gotta bump this up."

- There's a priority.

Yes.

We have a very involved building and grounds committee and team of people that, and we keep everything on a spreadsheet and we're very, that's how we've gotten so much done.

Being very methodical and intentional about doing what we need to get done.

- What do you look forward to most every day when you go out to the park?

You don't visit with the animals all the time?

- No.

And you know, I'm allergic to animals.

- And that's the craziest thing.

All animals, just with fur?

- Yeah.

It's the dander.

So if I'm outside it's fine, you know, 'cause I go in and visit the cougars a fair bit.

Probably more than the staff would like me to.

But it's more like if I'm outside I'm fine.

If I'm indoors, I'm a little bit more careful.

Like I noticed the other day that the turkey vultures are now inside Forest Hall and so I was feeling a little more itchy than usual.

But, 'cause we bring some animals indoors, you know, to overwinter them.

- So, but I'm just careful.

I take my medicine.

- So you're okay in the snake exhibit then?

- Snakes don't bother me one bit.

And you know what, if you work at Wildlife Prairie Park, you're just gonna get used to snakes.

'Cause they're everywhere.

I think if I'm gonna take, I don't handle the animals, but if I were gonna handle one, it would be a snake.

It seems like, you know, the easiest.

Yeah.

- I dunno about that.

It seems like it, but let's keep it at seems.

- Yeah.

They don't bother me anymore.

- All right.

So going every day you get to experience a little bit of everything or do a lot of problems arise- - Lots of problem solving, but I love to talk to the guests and see, you know, make sure they're having the ultimate experience and like telling them about things they might not know about.

"Hey, did you know we have kayaks that you can rent?

Did you know we have laser tag?"

- [Christine] I didn't know you had laser tag.

- Yes.

Outdoor laser tag.

And I think we're the only one around here that does, so.

- [Christine] On the other side of the park?

On the main side of the park.

Huh.

- Yep.

So we have disc golf, you know.

We have all these hiking trails.

I like doing our hiking trails.

We just have so many activities that I like to tell people about to make sure they're, if they make the keeper chat, did they know they can have a private animal encounter?

Today, I learned that our private encounter video on TikTok as of this morning, it came out yesterday, has 270,000 views.

We have gained overnight 1300 followers on TikTok.

So.

Yes, so it's like getting the word out to people all over this country about how fantastic this park is.

That is what I get excited about.

- Well, and then who knows who we're attracting then to come to the park.

- Yes.

- That's amazing.

And you didn't anticipate that at all?

- Did not at all.

Did not at all.

- Gosh.

So disc golf, laser tag.

What about the wintertime?

So you can still go on the trails in the wintertime.

- We're open every day.

And winter's a fantastic time because the animals are actually more active.

And when I talk to the guests that are there now, they're like, "Oh, they're everywhere."

I'm like, "Yeah, they're not hot."

You know, what do we do when it's hot outside?

We might hide.

- Yeah, exactly.

- So animals are the same, but they're very active in the winter.

So if you're out there, they're gonna be running around you, following you around.

And we have our encounters that you can still do.

We still do keeper chats every day.

So there's a lot to do, and stay in a cabin.

- So how about the encounters?

What does that all involve?

- There's different ones, different timings, but you can, they're behind the scenes get close to the animals.

And the best one, I think is the private animal encounter where you go around and feed our five big animals, you know, through a fence, usually with tongs.

The bison, the elk, the wolves, the bears and the cougars.

And then if you like some other animal other than one of those, then we'll switch out an animal.

- [Christine] I like the river otters.

I get a big kick out of 'em.

- Like, we'll take you over there and let you feed them some shrimp.

- Yeah, they just look like they're having such a good time all the time.

- Yeah, well... - Maybe not all the time.

But just when I've been there that, you know, it's like, oh boy, what a life that would be.

- They all want attention.

And then, you know, we also have like yoga and tree meditation and sound bath classes.

So winter is a fun time to be at the park.

- Amazing.

Well, so we're doing a lot of updating.

We're doing a lot of fun things.

People need to get, if they want a cabin, where do they go?

They go online to make sure that they book the cabins.

- And the cabooses.

- The cabooses, no, the cabooses are closed in the wintertime.

I don't think you would enjoy that in the winter, 'cause they're not insulated.

But the cabooses are probably our, they're probably our most popular units, you know.

- And how many cabooses are there?

- There's four.

- Okay.

All right.

- But we also have grain bins.

We have their grain silos, we have little motel type cabins.

We're building a lot more unique cabins.

And then we have our luxury cabins.

We have private cabin, we have private, a cabin on the lake.

So there's something for everybody.

But you just go to our website and click.

You wanna stay there.

- But the cabins are open.

And then is there ice fishing?

- We do not allow ice fishing.

- 'Cause it's too dangerous.

- Well, you know, in Illinois at the park now, if it ever gets to five inches of ice, then we will host an ice fishing opportunity.

But it hasn't happened the last couple of years, so.

But that's why it's great to come and walk around.

It's not that cold.

I mean, look at yesterday.

- Right now.

Yeah.

But it's tricking us a little bit.

All right, so real quick, what's your bucket list?

Very quickly.

- This year we're going to push into a new capital campaign.

Raise money to build more things.

We are, in the future, we're gonna be like Wildlife Prairie Park Resort and Conference Center.

That's what I see.

We are gonna continue to grow, continue to expand our offerings for people.

And we just want everybody to come out to the park and see how great it is and help us, help us do this.

We are part of the community.

We're a community asset and we need the community to, you know, assist us in this.

- So no regrets.

- Oh, absolutely not.

Absolutely not.

I can be, you know, I never thought I could be like Jack Hannah.

I mean, not really, but I love it.

- Well, you just, you wear this smile from ear to ear because you love what you do.

Which is great.

And that translates to the staff and the volunteers and everything.

You know, I think I wanna- - Yes, the volunteers are fantastic.

You can come be a volunteer.

- I wanna drive the train.

- You can drive the train.

We have two female engineers.

I don't know what, you know, a lot of times as women, we think, "Oh, that seems like a man's job."

Uh-uh, you know, we've got some great female engineers.

- I can blow that.

- You can do it.

- I can do the whistle and blow the horn and all that stuff.

Well, thanks so much for being with me.

- Thank you Christine.

Thanks for having me.

- And telling us all about it.

- And I would love to see a wedding picture sometime.

That would be a great marketing campaign.

- You know, we just, somebody just gave 'em back to us a couple years ago.

- I would love to see it.

- We were cutting our cake right in front of the one wolf that was on the wall.

So I will definitely, I'll bring it out there and show it to you.

- Wonderful.

Thank you.

- Okie doke.

Thanks for being here.

All the best at Wildlife Prairie Park.

And a winter destination.

You gotta remember that too.

Thanks for joining us.

Hope you enjoyed it.

And be well.

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