I'm pretty sure that elephant is supposed to be a mastodon or mammoth, so it's probably pretty dead, though nicely preserved in his block of ice.
Imo, it's still winter is a totally lame argument. Christmas decorations go up after Thanksgiving and come down on New Years or, for some, after Jan 6. The rest of January and February may still have snow, but not decorated Christmas trees, Santa's, candy canes and such.
My problem with all the winter stuff is that, apart from decorations that work in the snowy area of the zoo, the rest is only usable for a month or two if your town style is trying for plausible. For me, that's lot of tcash for something to put once a year for a few weeks.
Imo, regardless of season, an event named color splash should have bright, colorful decorations, like the carousel in the event center.