The USU Eastern Prehistoric Museum is hosting a Public Listening Session on Saturday, Dec. 17 at 2:00 pm for community members to come share input on how the museum is doing and what sort of additions could be added to better suit patrons.
“So on the 17th, this coming Saturday, from 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm, I’ll be down in the museum’s Don Burge Classroom, which is on the second floor and I want members of the community to come by, come in to the museum for free and tell me what they like about the museum, what they don’t like about the museum, how we can serve you better, how we are serving you, really any comments, criticisms, or complaints. This is all to help inform our upcoming strategic plan. We’re reworking our strategic plan and our goals as a museum over the next three to five years,” stated Dr. Riley. The listening session is a way for the museum to develop a better strategic plan from the public’s standpoint. The museum will then conduct another listening session online in early January and then present their findings to the public the latter part of January.
The Horns & Tusks: Ceratopsians and the Evolution of Bizarre Headgear exhibit is going to be extended till February. “It was going to come down sort of right after the new year but we’re going to keep it up for about another month until early February because it’s been such a good exhibit. Really, Rob Gaston knocked it out of the park, he’s our design partner on this exhibit. If you haven’t been, about half of it is dinosaurs, as the title implies, Horns & Tucks: Ceratopsians and the Evolution of Bizarre Headgear. So half of it is Ceratopsians and other dinosaurs that have incredible frills and headgear, and then the other side is mostly mammals,” explained Dr. Riley. The exhibit is put together nicely and will be very entertaining for all ages.
During the Christmas break is a great time for families to visit the museum, as the museum will be open during the holiday break with the exception of a few days. “Our hours are pretty much the same, our hours are Sunday through Wednesday 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, then Thursday through Saturday 9:00 am to 7:00 pm, so a little bit of a weird way of saying it. Days we will be closed are, this is every year we’re closed five days, we’re closed Thanksgiving, which is already past. We’re closed Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve and New Years Day so those do fall on the weekend this year,” said Dr. Riley. He also wanted to remind community members that the Gift Shop has some pretty unique items for sale that would make great Christmas gift ideas for anyone on your list.
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