Dinosaurs to turn local venues into virtual Jurassic attractions

Dinosaurs are extinct, but they are everywhere these days. More than 20 of the prehistoric creatures will visit the Ohio Expo Center this weekend as VStar Entertainment Group brings its “Discover the Dinosaurs UNLEASHED” exhibit to town.

In May, “Dinosaur Zoo Live” comes to the Palace Theatre, Columbus Dinofest visits the Franklin County Fairgrounds and the Columbus Zoo & Aquarium welcomes back its Dinosaur Island boat ride.

And in the fall, actual dinosaur fossils are coming to COSI Columbus, on loan from the American Museum of Natural History.

“Dinosaurs are huge right now,” said Lauren Dublin, marketing and publicity coordinator for VStar Entertainment — and she didn’t mean that literally. “Little kids just light up when they see life-sized dinosaurs right in front of them.”

The exhibit coming to the Expo Center was created in January 2016, Dublin said, and has visited about 200 cities.

Upon entering Cardinal Hall, visitors can wander through a gallery of life-size dinosaurs. Signs point out fun facts about each species.

Much of the rest of the exhibit offers dino-themed entertainment, such as the chance to dig for fossils, ride in electric cars on the Dino Raceway and jump on a dinosaur’s back for a ride.

Bounce houses, crafts and face-painting round out the experience.

Dublin said the average weekend attendance has been about 5,000.

Paul Sutter, chief scientist at COSI and an astrophysicist at Ohio State University, said he thinks dinosaurs are popular “because they’re aliens.”

“They are completely and totally unfamiliar to anything we see on Earth today,” he said. “And they are aliens that are buried in our backyard.”

Dinofest visits the county fairgrounds on May 13 with a collection of dinosaurs and other characters.

The Palace Theatre show is May 21 and billed as featuring

a cast of life-size dinosaur puppets that interact with children.

The zoo reopens its Dinosaur Island boat ride on May 27, and it will remain open through Oct. 31. It was brought back after a twoyear run in 2013 and 2014.

Sutter thinks the most effective way to bring dinosaurs to life for kids is to get a chance to “measure up” against one.

“You can tell kids that an apatosaurus was as tall as a tree, and they’re like, ‘Huh, really?’” he said. “It’s abstract, like a fairy tale.

“But when you can walk up to it and realize that its foot is bigger around than your waist, that’s where the real ‘Wow!’ moment comes.”

And, he added, a fascination with dinosaurs isn’t necessarily just a phase.

“I did not grow out of them,” Sutter said. “If I were not an astrophysicist, I would be a paleontologist.”