Jurassic Festival features unveiling of new dinosaur replica at Modesto museum
Fascinated by dinosaurs? Have a child who’s fascinated by dinosaurs? There’s a celebration coming up in Modesto for you.
The Jurassic Festival is set for Sept. 30 at the Great Valley Museum in Modesto.
The festival revolves around a new Parasaurolophus dinosaur replica being unveiled that day at the museum.
There will be plenty of activities, mostly for children to enjoy, according to Arnold Chavez, director of the museum.
Among them will be dig pits outside where anyone can locate (but not remove) fossil replicas.
“Anyone can grab a brush and be an archaeologist for a little bit,” Chavez said.
There will be contests for elementary school-age children, including one where they’ll be asked to come up with their own dinosaur and name it, he said.
Youngsters can draw dinosaurs, which will be put up on a community board.
Chavez expects there will be about 10 activities revolving around dinosaurs that day, including a chance to create a fossil.
Kids also can try their skills at tossing bean bags into the mouth of T-Rex skull replica.
There will be brontoburgers and pterodactyl tea available for purchase.
The free Jurassic Festival is set for 5 to 7 p.m. at the Great Valley Museum on the Modesto Junior College West Campus, 2201 Blue Gum Ave.
Combining efforts with MAPS
The festival is being held in conjunction with Modesto Area Partners in Science. MAPS will present talks on dinosaurs before and after the festival.
Dinosaur expert Tara Lepore will offer an all-ages talk, geared for young children, on why people are fascinated by dinosaurs. It will be in Sierra Hall Room 132 on the MJC West Campus. At 7:30 p.m., Lepore will give a similar presentation geared to those from junior high and up.
Chavez said the museum and MAPS have been trying to come up with a way to combine efforts. The talk by Lepore and the new dinosaur provided an opportunity.
“This was a great way to collaborate ... and, frankly, kids love dinosaurs,” Chavez said.
It also marks an experimental change in format for the regular MAPS talks offered to the community.
The three first fall MAPS presentations will include the two talks instead of the traditional one, MAPS coordinator Catherine Tripp said in an email interview.
“We are experimenting with this new format because many of our talks can be enjoyed by a younger audience if the presenter is willing and able to adjust the information to attract a young audience,” Tripp said. “It has always been MAPS’ intention to provide programming that is for everyone in the community. This is an attempt to do that.”
In addition to the dinosaur festival, there will be events in conjunction with Oct. 28 talks on looking at dark matter with the James Webb Space Telescope and Nov. 18 talks on monarch butterflies.
Like the dinosaur event, these two talks will be geared for young children at 4 p.m. and junior high and older at 7:30 p.m.
Along with the telescope talk, the Great Valley Museum will offer planetarium showings and, if weather permits, telescopes will be available for viewing after dark, Tripp said. MJC Science Club students will provide hands-on activities in the museum lobby.
For the butterflies event, MAPS has joined forces with the Stanislaus County Office of Education to hold an art contest, she said. Artwork will be available for viewing the evening of the presentation from 5 to 7 p.m. in the museum lobby.
All MAPS presentations are free. To learn more, visit murov.info/maps.htm and www.mjc.edu/instruction/sme/maps.php.
