BROOKSVILLE, Fla. — A few Citrus County celebrities are expected to make their grand return soon as the famous monkeys of ‘Monkey Island’ in Homosassa prepare to return to their home.

What You Need To Know

  • The famous monkeys of 'Monkey Island' in Homosassa will be returning to their home soon after recent renovations

  • Ralph, Ebony and Emily have been staying at Boyett's Grove & Citrus Attraction while their home is being remodeled

  • Renovations to Monkey Island will see air conditioning in the monkey's home, as well as cameras that will allow visitors and guests to check in on the local celebrities online

For the last few months, renovations have been ongoing to the monkey’s home. In the meantime, they’ve been guests at another famous Citrus County staple. It was a welcome stay for both parties.

“But, of course, banana is always the first favorite,” said Katherine Oleson.

Inside Boyett’s Grove & Citrus Attraction, Oleson is hard at work preparing a dish of assorted fruit and veggies for some visitors.

“We have calls on the phone," says Oleson. "Matter of fact, we had calls on the phone just yesterday wanting to know when they’re going to go back. I told them it’ll be soon, everybody’s waiting."

Those distinguished guests are none other than the spider monkeys from Monkey Island. Ralph, Ebony and Emily have called the attraction home for the last few months.

“I’ve had spider monkeys throughout, probably the last 30 years, and these are some of the nicest, easy-going," Oleson said. "They get along well, they live together well, they don’t fight. They’re amazing.”

And they are not the only fury friends on the property — Oleson has a collection of wild and exotic animals, including Wally the camel.

“We were always citrus packers," said Oleson. "The original growths were replanted after the freeze of 1895. The whole area was oranges, and people would come out to the orange groves, and they would walk through the orange groves and see the oranges.

"As the oranges began to disappear, we added a few different things to the trail and that’s how we ended up with the animals.”

With the addition of animals came a surplus of visitors, Oleson said a need to entertain and a desire to become something more.

“We’ve been called a working museum because, we’re very much like a lot of the buildings and places have changed a little bit, but we’ve kept it as similar as we can for quite a while," she said.

It's a desire that continues even today as Oleson does her daily rounds of animal duty.

“It’s kind of a lifetime dream that we’ve been working on for a long time and it’s a privilege to be able to have them,” she said.