From Melody Dunn, we have this delightful entry to which the judges awarded second place.

Once Upon a Time
There Was a Store
By
Melody Dunn

When I first discovered Bao Bao and her parents, I followed posts on the Smithsonian National Zoo’s old Facebook page. A regular contributor was Merry Ambos, who posted pictures of the zoo animals taken by her husband Allen. After they set up the DC Zoo Walks Facebook page, I often thought that more people should be enjoying Allen’s photographs. Then the DC Zoo Walks store happened.
When someone commented on a T-shirt from the store, I would enlighten them as to its provenance. “This is Bao Bao. She was born in Washington DC and lives in China now. A couple who live in DC take their walks through the zoo, and he takes photographs of the animals. All the profits from articles they sell on line go to buy enrichment items for the animals at the zoo.”
When a cashier commented on a key chain dangling from my handbag, I had to say, “this is Bei Bei. He lives in Washington DC.” And as one month changed to the next, I had photographs of the siblings to enjoy from their calendars. We will always remember their charms through their photo books. The “Boyz in Da Zoo” calendar has become a limited edition one of a kind keepsake.
When we traveled to China, as we were checking the luggage at the San Francisco airport, the Chinese agent smiled and exclaimed as she pointed to the luggage tags. She had never heard of Bao Bao and Bei Bei. I only had a couple of minutes to enlighten her and when a look of misapprehension would cross her face my husband would add a Mandarin word here and there in his Taiwan accent. We are going to China to see Bao Bao, we said.
I took a large envelope of paper items from the store to Bao Bao’s keeper, stickers, bookmarks, etc. and included the Internet address for the store.
Of course the pandas were not the only ones to share staring rolls at the store. Other animals were featured, and a baby orangutan and baby gorilla have achieved lasting fame. And then there are the photos and videos of the animals enjoying all their new toys. What fun!
Recently I saw social media posts about toys that panda keeper Tang Cheng had purchased using money from “merchandise he sold online of the pandas.” I know it’s unlikely that he might have been influenced by our store, and yet I’m left to wonder if the legacy of the DC Zoo Walks store might live on through a dedicated panda keeper in China.
Once upon a time there was a store that celebrated animals and made the people happy.

Our celebrity judges, Marcelo Pachecho and Gisela Smith Medina have made their choices and we are starting with our 4th place winner. The other winners will be announced during the coming hours.

Here is Debbie Brown’s entry:

My favorite part of the store was the store itself! How it started….to fill needs that the zoo wouldn’t/ couldn’t. To be able to add to the lives of the animals was amazing. And by adding I got so many great items and shared so many as well. My favorite…..Bonnie eating the newspaper which I titled recycle! Wore it to a beach bonfire in Malibu and people asked and I got to share the story of DCZoowalks, my friends and their work. So many people I have shared the story with through my luggage tags, post its, bookmarks and more.

One Bao Bao calendar led to friends in Merry and Allen which means the world to me.

This store created friendships throughout the world and fellowship and added to the lives of the animals at the zoo and everyone involved. And educated so many as well.

My dream was always a book with Allen’s photos and Marcelo’s wit. Not giving up on that one!

There are not enough ways to say thanks to all of you who have supported the DC Zoo Walks store. Our goal of using all profit for animal enrichment has provided so many animals with hours of fun along with many practical items needed to care for them.

The store will remain open until Saturday, January 18 – please order any items you would like by that date. We will provide an update on the enrichment project later in January.

The new fund raiser has been live for a little over 7 hours and we already have progress to report! The toy-o-meter above will show everyone the current donations level (each toy represents $50 in donations).

Thanks to all of you who entered the contests and those who voted. Here are the winners:

Marcelo Pacheco won the memory contest with this entry that will touch everyone’s heart:

I have a lot of great memories with Bei Bei. He has always been a goofball, the sweetest boy, the smartest panda (I’m pretty partial here, I know). I can talk about his first press conference (sleeping), his first birthday (didn’t show up), his first time with snow (he really hated it), that horrible 2016 Thanksgiving (silly tummy),.. I can write a lot about him. But probably my favorite memory is not “about” Bei Bei, it is “with” Bei Bei being there. My favorite memories were all those times arriving to the Asia Trail, flying a long distance from Chile, with that funny panda boy on the background, meeting a new or old panda fan, a lot of them great friends (or as I consider them “family members”). Bei Bei was the reason to meet the best human beings. Bei Bei gave me the chance to give a hug to dear friends. And those are my favorite memories. Thanks boy…

The photo contest was won by Michele who submitted this photo of Bei Bei at his debut (or Beibut, as I called it) has always stuck with me. It was taken by Auntie Carolyn Taylor, who has since passed away.