Wild West Dino Den events announced for Lovell, Greybull

The Wild West Dino Den, a Wyoming 501(c)3 nonprofit group, will host free informational events February 14 and March 14 to offer the public information about its efforts to establish a science-based dinosaur museum in Greybull. The museum will highlight the Jurassic dinosaurs and marine reptiles found in the Big Horn Basin but are being housed and displayed in museums or private collections all over the world.

The first of these events will be February 14 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Hyart Theatre in downtown Lovell. A second event will be from 2 to 4 p.m. March 14 at the Greybull High School auditorium.

The program for each of the events will include an explanation of why there is a need for a dinosaur museum in the Big Horn Basin that emphasizes locally found dinosaurs. The Wild West Dino Den (WWDD) will focus entirely on museum quality casts of scientifically important and well-documented Jurassic dinosaurs and marine reptiles from the northern and eastern side of the basin. The WWDD has already acquired some fossil casts and is working to purchase additional mounts. In addition, high quality and interactive displays will accompany the fossil mounts. The short presentations will include a summary of the status of fundraising, and the progress being made with the Town of Greybull toward obtaining funds to design and build the dinosaur museum in Greybull.

Also included in the programs will be the showing of the award-winning movie “Why Dinosaurs?” The film shares “behind-the-scenes glimpses into how dinosaurs have shaped our culture, from Hollywood to classrooms. It does this all beautifully though the best lens possible: The eyes of a dino-obsessed kid…”

A Q&A will follow with two paleontologists, Jessica Lippincott, Wild West Dino Den director and executive producer, “Why Dinosaurs?” and Angela Reddick, Washakie Museum and Cultural Center, as well as geologist Erik Kvale, Ph.D. president of the Wild West Dino Den. They will answer questions about the museum effort and the famous Jurassic dinosaurs found in the Big Horn Basin including those from the Jurassic Mile north of Lovell/Cowley and the famous Howe and Red Canyon Dinosaur Quarries near Shell.

For more information check out the website BigHornBasinDinos.org or call Erik Kvale at 812-340-3218.