Client: Great Yarmouth Racecourse
Industry: Racecourse / Visitor Attraction / Family Entertainment
Location: Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, UK
Event: Go Wild – Safari Live
Date: 30th August 2026
Event type: Race Day / Family Entertainment
Audience: Hundreds of racegoers and families
Duration: All day, with performances between 12.15pm and 5.30pm
Performers & event team: 10+
Big Foot services: Large-scale roaming animal entertainment, interactive animal puppets, Rangers, event management, performance scheduling and on-site coordination
The Brief
Great Yarmouth Racecourse wanted to add something rather wild to its race day on 30th August 2026.
The brief was to create a Safari Live experience, bringing an impressive collection of roaming animals and interactive performers into the racecourse for families to encounter throughout the day. The client wanted entertainment that could create a real spectacle within a very large outdoor space, with different animals appearing throughout the day rather than relying on one fixed performance area.
The experience needed to work around the most important part of any race day – the actual horse racing. With hundreds of visitors attending, the challenge was to create enough entertainment to make an impact across the racecourse while carefully coordinating every appearance around the racing schedule.
The Challenge
A racecourse presents some rather unique challenges when you’re planning to fill it with elephants, an orangutan, a bear and a collection of other animals – even when yours aren’t real!
Scale was the first challenge. Great Yarmouth Racecourse covers a substantial area, so one roaming performer at a time wouldn’t create the impact the client wanted. We needed enough animals, performers and Rangers to cover the entire event space and allow several activities to take place at the same time.
Timing was absolutely crucial. Our performances had to work around the racing schedule. We needed to ensure that none of our animals or performers interfered with the horse racing. After all, nobody buying a race day ticket should have to choose between watching the horses and meeting a wild elephant!
And then there was the British weather. With an outdoor event and a collection of large-scale animal costumes and puppets to look after, we needed somewhere secure and dry for the performers, animals and equipment throughout the day.
The Solution
We created a substantial Safari Live roaming entertainment package, with more than ten performers and event staff on site.
Rather than sending individual animals out one after another, we supplied enough operators and Rangers to enable multiple animals to roam at the same time. This meant we could cover a much larger area of Great Yarmouth Racecourse and create several guest interactions simultaneously, making the Safari Live experience feel much bigger and more visible across the venue.
The Safari Live line-up included:
Large Elephant
Our Large Elephant provided three 20-minute roaming appearances throughout the day. With its sheer size and realism, it created an instant spectacle as it travelled through the permitted areas of the racecourse and interacted with visitors. Many believed it was a real elephant!
Baby Elephant
Not quite as enormous – but every bit as popular – our Baby Elephant is so cute, and also made three 20-minute appearances. Having both the large and baby elephants gave us two very different roaming experiences and plenty of opportunities for family interaction and photographs. Who doesn’t love a Mother and Baby combo?
Orangutan
Our Orangutan performed three 30-minute roaming sessions. He is lots of fun and children love to copy his antics and arm movements! His ranger invited younger guests to brush his teeth – which isn’t necessarily what you expect to see on a day at the races – which was rather the point!
Brown Bear
Our Brown Bear joined the Safari Live line-up for three 20-minute roaming appearances throughout the day.
Panda Bear
Our Panda took a rather less conventional approach to getting around the racecourse. Travelling around the permitted areas on our Jungle Bike, the Panda performed three 30-minute roaming sessions, interacting with guests along the way.
Animal Puppets & Rangers
Four different Animal Puppets, including a Snake, a baby Hippo, a Parrot and a baby Panda, accompanied by our Rangers, added even more roaming entertainment. The Animal Puppets performed three 20-minute sessions, creating smaller, interactive encounters alongside the larger headline animals.
With six Rangers on site, we were able to operate several roaming experiences simultaneously helping bring the whole Safari Live experience to life.
Keeping Safari Live Running Around the Racing
A dedicated Big Foot Event Event Manager coordinated the entertainment scheduled between 12.15pm and 5.30pm, with up to three hours of Safari Live entertainment spread across the afternoon.
Our Event Manager controlled the timings so performances didn’t overlap with the racing, allowing visitors to enjoy both elements of their day. It meant guests could watch the races and experience the Safari Live entertainment, helping Great Yarmouth Racecourse give visitors more from their race day ticket rather than making them choose between the two.
Preparing for the Weather
We also brought our own marquee to Great Yarmouth Racecourse. This provided a dedicated set-up and holding area where our animals, costumes, performers and equipment could remain protected and dry between appearances. Set-up began from 9am, giving the team plenty of time to prepare ahead of the first public performances. It was a simple but important part of making sure the entertainment could operate successfully whatever the Great British weather decided to throw at us.
What Big Foot Events Delivered
For Go Wild – Safari Live at Great Yarmouth Racecourse, Big Foot Events provided:
The Result
Safari Live proved a huge hit with visitors. The race day achieved incredible ticket sales, with hundreds of guests attending and a really positive response to the new animal entertainment.
Perhaps just as importantly for an event of this size, the client reported zero complaints!
With multiple animals, more than ten performers and staff, a huge outdoor site, unpredictable weather and a live horse-racing schedule to work around, that’s a result we’re rather proud of. Our careful scheduling meant visitors could enjoy the roaming animals without missing the racing, while having several animals performing simultaneously helped us create the scale and spectacle needed for such a large venue.
And Great Yarmouth Racecourse was sufficiently pleased with Safari Live that the conversation very quickly turned to one important question: What can we do next year?
Client Feedback
Following the event, Great Yarmouth Racecourse told us:
“It was great. The reception from the crowd and the feedback we’ve received has been really positive. So, I’m happy.”
But perhaps the best indication that Safari Live had done its job came immediately afterwards:
“What price could you do it for next year?”
We’ll take that as a yes, then!
Key Facts
Client: Great Yarmouth Racecourse
Location: Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, UK
Event: Go Wild – Safari Live
Date: 30th August 2026
Event type: Race Day / Family Entertainment
Audience: Hundreds of visitors
Duration: All day
Public performance period: 12.15pm–5.30pm
Safari entertainment: Up to three hours spread throughout the day
Set-up: From 9am
Performers & event team: 10+
Rangers: Six
Event management: Dedicated Big Foot Event Manager
Headline animals: Large Elephant, Baby Elephant, Orangutan on Jungle Bike and Brown Bear
Additional animals: Four Animal Puppets
Performance format: Multiple roaming sessions and simultaneous animal appearances
Key operational challenge: Coordinating entertainment around live horse racing
Result: Incredible ticket sales, positive visitor feedback and zero complaints
Big Foot services: Roaming animal entertainment, family entertainment, Safari Rangers, performance programming, event management and on-site coordination
What This Project Demonstrates
Go Wild – Safari Live demonstrates Big Foot Events’ ability to deliver large-scale roaming family entertainment for racecourses, visitor attractions, festivals, shopping centres, outdoor events and family days in Norfolk, East Anglia and throughout the UK.
It also shows that our large-scale creature entertainment extends well beyond dinosaurs.
For Great Yarmouth Racecourse, we brought together elephants, an orangutan on a Jungle Bike, a Brown Bear, four Animal Puppets, six Rangers and a dedicated Event Manager, creating a complete Safari Live experience rather than simply supplying an individual roaming act.
The scale of the venue required us to think differently about how the entertainment operated. By supplying enough performers and operators for multiple animals to roam simultaneously, we could cover more of the racecourse and create interactions in different areas at the same time.
Just as importantly, this project demonstrates the operational side of delivering entertainment within a working venue.
Our Event Manager coordinated every appearance around the day’s horse racing, ensuring our animals remained within permitted areas and that performances didn’t clash with the races. Visitors could therefore enjoy the additional family entertainment without missing the main event they’d bought their tickets to see.
We also arrived prepared for the realities of an outdoor British event, bringing our own marquee to provide a dedicated dry holding and preparation area for the team, animals and equipment.
The result was a successful race day with strong ticket sales, hundreds of visitors, positive audience feedback and zero complaints – followed almost immediately by the client asking for a price to bring Safari Live back again next year.
For venues and event organisers looking for roaming animal entertainment, safari-themed family entertainment or large-scale interactive creatures in Norfolk, East Anglia or elsewhere throughout the UK, Big Foot Events can provide anything from individual animal appearances to complete multi-performer Safari Live packages with Rangers and on-site event management.
