Experts search new methods of dinosaur education

Havre Daily News/Lindsay Brown

A Saurornitholestes on display at the Rudyard Dinosaur Museum.

Dinosaurs roamed Montana more than 50 million years ago, but those in charge of the state's museums are looking at new ways of educating young people and adults about them.

Representatives of Montana Dinosaur Trail were at Havre's Great Northern Inn Saturday for their spring meeting. One by one, representatives of the 14 groups that run dinosaur museums told about what they were doing to attract more business.

Most in the state saw a slight decline in attendance over the last year.

At the Carter County Museum in Ekalaka, a new 12,000-square-foot addition will greet visitors. A raft of new projects are on displays, and several programs over the summer will be held to attract more people and educate them. There will be field digs and special activities for kids.

A special emphasis will be on young people, said the new curator, Nathan Carroll, an Ekalaka native who is obtaining his master's degree in paleontology from Montana State University.

A "dinosaur shindig"will feature a barbecue and a series of speakers who are dinosaur experts.

At Glendive, the Makoshika Dinosaur Museum has moved into a newer, larger building and is reaching out to attract new people to visit.

The staff made a video that went viral of community residents assembling a new T-Rex in the museum. The video speeded up the process, turning three weeks of work into three minutes on the video. Blue Oyster Cult's "Godzilla" was dubbed into the video.

Other museums are taking a more traditional approach.

Judi Dritshulas, board chair of the H. Earl Clack Museum in Havre, said the museum is looking forward to a Living History weekend being planned for June 1.

The museum will hold a Tea with Lady Grace," to bring attention to the new addition to the museum.

The program will tell the story of Eleanor Clack, H. Earl Clack's wife.

Dritshulas said she will play the role of Mrs. Clack.

"I may not look like her, but I know about her," she said.

Attendance was down 11 percent last year, but Dritshulas said that was because the museum was closed for two months when it moved from one end of the Holiday Village Mall to the other end.

The museum is also looking for a permanent home, an idea that has been discussed for years.

"I don't know if I will see it in my lifetime," she said. "I hope so."

Lila Redding of the Rudyard Museum, said they may fight a decline in attendance by putting antique tractors on the side of U.S. Highway 2, alerting people that the antique car and tractor museum, which accompanies the dinosaur museum, is ahead.

The members also discussed ways of reinvigorating the passport program.

For $5, people buy a passport and it is punched at each museum they visit.

Last year, 10 people completed the tour, and lots more people are working on it, said Victor Bjornberg of the Montana Office of Tourism. Some of them were Montanas, he said, but others were from Idaho, California and Ontario.

That pleases tourism officials, he said, because they want to bring money from out of state.

About 40 percent of the people visiting dinosaur museums are from out of state, a good percentage, Bjornberg said.