The USU Eastern Prehistoric Museum has a new admission program and they are excited to be hosting a Fossil Fest this month. Castle Country Radio was able to sit down with Museum Director, Dr. Tim Riley to get all the details.
“We’re excited to participate in this. This is a program that is run by the Institute of Museum of Library Sciences, through the Association of Children’s Museums, what it is, it’s a program that allows people who receive SNAP or EBT Benefits, so public assistance to get reduced or free admission to a number of museums around the country, there’s about 800 participating museums. We’ve decided to do it as free admission so anybody who receives SNAP or EBT Benefits whether they’re local to our county or Emery County or whether they are from further afield, all they have to do is present that card at the front desk and they and their party will get free admission in the museum,” stated Dr. Riley. This is a great opportunity for families in the Castle Country Area to see the great exhibits housed in the Prehistoric Museum.
The museum is excited to be hosting the First Annual Fossil Fest on October 13 through October 16. There will be many fun family-friendly activities to enjoy over the course of 3 days as Dr. Riley explains, “We are doing our inaugural Fossil Fest its starts as you said on Thursday, October 13. That will actually not be at the museum, that will be up on campus at the Geary Theatre. Its going to be a movie, its going to be Jurassic World: Dominion, the newest Jurassic World movie and I guess the last one. It highlights a number of fossils that were discovered and described by this museum. We’ll actually have an opportunity for people to meet with Josh Lively our paleontologist and examine fossils from these creatures that are depicted in that movie and that’s one of the reasons we chose it.” This is a great way to learn more about the creatures shown in the movie by meeting the local paleontologist to answer any questions guests may have. There will be no activity scheduled on Friday, October 14.
On Saturday, October 15 there will be several activities and events taking place at the museum. “The museum will be free and open to the public from 9:00 am to 7:00 pm. There will be various activities from about 11:00 am till 6:00 pm so we’ll have a number of things. There will be activities and events for primarily for kids, crafting activities and events from about 11:00 am to 2:00 pm. But there will also be a number of things going on, there’s going to be exhibits and lab tours going on at 2:00 pm and 4:00 pm. Then we’re going to have a number of presenters come down and talk to us about the paleontology of this region,” stated Dr. Riley. This is a great way for families to enjoy a Saturday together while learning about the history of our area.
For more information about the First Annual Fossil Fest visit the Prehistoric Museum’s website at https://eastern.usu.edu/prehistoric-museum/ or call the museum at (435) 637-5060