Dino Shindiggery success: Museum sees 663 weekly visitors

Numbers from one of the biggest yearly events in Ekalaka have started to come in.

The 10th Annual Dino Shindig once again did not disappoint dino enthusiasts in attendance and provided a boost for local businesses prior to the upcoming Days of '85 Fair and Rodeo.

On Thursday, twenty people attended the museum's Dark Sky Event at Medicine Rocks State Park. Friday saw 21 people attend the Dinosaur Ice Cream and Pathologies event and 75 at Camp Needmore for the Paleo Meet and Greet. Thirty-five people signed in at the museum on Friday.

Saturday's busy schedule of talks at St. Elizabeth Lutheran Church and activities at the museum brought in 328 people. Of those, 91 were local residents, 131 were from other parts of Montana, 102 were from out of state and 4 were international visitors (Argentina, Germany, Italy). Later, 68 attended the annual bat walk.

Live auction items and multiple cash donations to the mosasaur excavation and junior scientist dig funds brought in over $5,000 on Saturday, and the popular online silent auction earned a total of $1,155.83.

The dig on Sunday was a bit larger than previous years. Seventy-two participants, five speakers and 24 volunteers/staff members equaled a total of 101 in attendance. Twenty-nine others enjoyed the gathering at Medicine Rocks State Park.

Weekly attendance between July 17 and July 24 at Carter County Museum totaled an impressive 663 visitors.

Also of note, forty-nine volunteers put in a total of 425 hours to help make the 10th Annual Dino Shindig a success.