There Be Dragons at Zao Island

dragon 2Zao Island is famous for its unique offerings and colorful landscape and architecture. But probably the most well-recognized things at Zao are the dragons.

Two scaly giants are perched on Zao Island’s property: Scarlet, a red dragon who is on constant surveillance of the park, scaring off any knave or scoundrel who would dare threaten the good times being had by patrons with terrifying roars and piercing eyes.

“There’s this company that makes really cool pneumatic props and they can do really incredible stuff for a good price,” Ryan Wright, General Manager of Zao Island said. “We worked with them to make Scarlet. It adds a great ‘wow’ factor. It keeps us looking different.”

dragon 1

Do not fear Scarlet, this dragon is just doing her job protecting the park. She is paid with pizza slices from Colada’s – cheese and extra jalapeños. She has to maintain her fire breath, you know.

The other dragon is big, green, and the guardian of the mini-golf course. He stands sentinel over the greens, watching to make sure that no one cheats at the game.

“Our green dragon was built in 1985. My dad has a really good friend who created concrete statues and structures that you can now see in Wisconsin Dells and Disney World,” Wright said. “This was one of his first projects. He worked with his brother on it and it’s one of our staples here. No matter what we do here everyone knows us best by our dragons.”

Unlike Scarlet, this dragon has no name… yet.

So next time you come to Zao Island be on the lookout for their dragons while you play with your family.