Bursting at the seams, new travel guide will launch with 75,000 copies

ASHEBORO — With 2024 marking 50 years at the North Carolina Zoo, the new Randolph County Official Travel Guide celebrates that anniversary.

Richard Schoenberger of Manor House Creative, who put together the new brochure, displayed a mockup of the guide at the Feb. 21 meeting of the Randolph County Tourism Development Authority (TDA) Board of Directors. The cover features an elephant at the zoo with the headline “Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro, NC.”

With 50 as the magic number for this issue, Schoenberger said a fold-out section with the county map lists “50 Fabulous Finds,” with numbers connecting visitors to destinations in all areas of the county.

“I think people will be really into the Fabulous 50,” he said. “But if we add more items (in years to come), it’ll have to get bigger. There’s a lot of information in the brochure, and it’s very helpful.”

With the zoo as the focus, he said, there are historic photos of the zoo, including a giant Galapagos turtle that was part of the Interim Zoo and an old shot of the amphitheater near the entrance to Africa. In addition, there are zoo facts scattered throughout as well as hiking tips, updated text and new photos.

“So many things have changed” since the zoo first opened in 1974, said Schoenberger. “We’re excited and this is good timing.

“The Travel Guide is growing in size since there are so much going on in the county,” he said. “It’s impossible to get it all. We’ll have to revisit how we do it.”

Amber Scarlett, TDA executive director, said there will be 75,000 Travel Guides in the first printing, the most ever. Some of those will go to other state visitor centers as well as locations around the county. There will also be some inserted in periodicals such as Chatham Magazine.

While the NC Zoo is the focus for 2024, the brochure also features attractions at all the municipalities and areas of the county. 

There are also letters from Zoo Director Pat Simmons and David Caughron, chair of the TDA board. 

Scarlett said the Travel Guide has been sent to the printer and should be out soon.