Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Tyler Weathers, tweathers@discoverygateway.org
New Dinosaur Exhibit at Children’s Museum
Salt Lake City (June 7, 2022) — Discovery Gateway Children’s Museum will open a first-of-a-kind dinosaur exhibit on June 17 that will enable children to experience the exciting work of paleontologists from unearthing a dinosaur bone to processing it in a laboratory.
The Utah-centric exhibit entitled, I Dig Dinos, will enable children to be a paleontologist for the afternoon. They will dig up dinosaur fossils in a huge dig pit, prepare the bones to be shipped back to the lab in field jackets (plaster molds to protect fragile bones), transport the dinosaur bones in crates that they push to a child-sized research laboratory complete with kid-sized lab coats, real fossils, and microscopes. Then they will identify where their dinosaur bone belongs by comparing it to a fully articulated Utahraptor dinosaur skeleton. There is also a part of the exhibit that teaches children about kids just like them that discovered real dinosaur bones.
“This exhibit is breaking new ground,” said CEO, Kathleen Bodenlos. “Children’s museums typically do not combine real artifacts alongside hands on exhibits, so we believe this will be a very exciting experience for the whole family.”
This new permanent exhibit was conceived and built fully in house taking just a year from concept to finished exhibit. “When I came up with the initial concept for this exhibit,” said Kathleen Bodenlos, “it was exciting to watch it capture everyone’s imagination. Our board of directors, in-house design team, and local subject matter experts such as the paleontology department from the Natural History Museum of Utah, all jumped in to help bring the concept to life. We also received generous financial support from our sponsors which enabled us to add a fully articulated Utahraptor and a Tyrannosaurus Rex to the exhibit.”
The museum received generous support of sponsors and donors including Simmons Family Foundation, George and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation, Big West Oil, Staker Parson and Joe Debalko.
I Dig Dinos is located on the 3rd floor of the museum and will be a permanent exhibit for the museum.
Discovery Gateway Children’s Museum is located in downtown Salt Lake City at 444 West 100 South and has been a Salt Lake favorite for over 45 years. It is a contemporary children’s museum offering 60,000 square feet of interactive, hands-on educational fun. Through engaging exhibits, workshops, programs and classes, the entire family will be able to enjoy a unique educational experience that combines creativity, play and learning. The mission of the children’s museum is to inspire children of all ages and abilities to imagine, discover and connect with their world to make a difference. For information, please call 801-456-5437 or visit www.discoverygateway.org.
