Wait a minute, there’s a place in Livingston County that has kangaroos?
Yep! It’s called Carousel Acres and it’s in Green Oak Township, and it’s literally the coolest place that you’ve probably never heard of.
In addition to kangaroos, they have sloths, emus, peacocks, wallabies, exotic pigs, and alpacas. They have dozens of parakeets that you can feed right from your hands. They have bunnies your kids can pet and donkeys your kids can brush.
They have reindeer, foxes, tortoises, sheep, and chickens.
They have a kookaburra named Charlie that’ll laugh at you if you laugh at him.
And perhaps coolest of all, they have one of the rarest animals in the world – a zonkey. That’s a half zebra, half donkey, and they’re incredibly rare. Your kids can actually go in and brush it while you explain to them how the mama was a donkey and the daddy was a zebra.
If your kids or grandkids love animals, this is the coolest place ever.
And it’s in Livingston County? How did I now know about this?
It’s actually not accurate to say that nobody knows about Carousel Acres, because they’ve been open about 30 years and lots of people go there every day. If you’re one of those people, you’re probably thinking that I’m an idiot for never having heard of this place before. And you’d be right.
But until last week, when I took my animal-loving 3-year-old granddaughter there, I had never been to Carousel Acres before. Shame on me.
I felt even dumber when I went back and looked and saw that we did a couple stories on Carousel Acres back when I was one of the editors at the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus. Not a lot, but enough that I should have remembered it.
But now that I’ve been there, let me tell you. If you have a child or a grandchild who loves animals, they will LOVE this place. And you’ll love that it’s right in our backyard.
Carousel Acres is located at 12749 Nine Mile Road, just east of Rushton Road, in Green Oak Township. It’s a hop, skip, and a jump off U.S. 23. It was founded by Tammy and Dave Iaconelli, and it’s open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and weekends from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
They have a website, but the best way to keep track of them is on Facebook. That’s also where they announce all the cool weekend events they have throughout the year, some of which involve unicorns and dinosaurs.
It’s a mini-zoo, and the coolest thing is that the kids get to interact with so many of the animals. They can pet the bunnies, feed the parakeets and brush the donkeys and zonkey. They do pony rides.
And they can get right up close to everything else. There are three kangaroos at Carousel Acres, and they can get really close to look at all of them. I’ve never seen a zoo where you can get so close to a kangaroo.
The other mega-cool part of the Australian Outback section is Charlie the kookaburra. He laughs at you when you laugh at him, and it made my granddaughter giggle non-stop.
In addition to the daily operations at the farm, they take their animals on the road all the time, so you might run into one of their portable petting zoos at a carnival or fair. You can also hire them for a birthday party or other event.
It’s only $12 per person to visit, and I promise you, it’ll be the best $12 you spend on your kids. It’s an additional dollar if they want to feed the birds.
So again – shame on me for not knowing about Carousel Acres before, and bully for all of you who’ve been going there for years.
I’m going to be taking my granddaughter there many more times in the future, and I’m putting this place right at the top of my “Best-Kept Secrets in Livingston County” list.
It’s a list that also includes the Tyrone Sunken Garden in Tyrone Township (look it up), the Dining With Jesus sculpture at Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Brighton (look it up), and the Refrigeration Museum in Brighton (look it up).
Those are all great, but it’s hard to beat kangaroos, reindeer, and a zonkey.
