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Community Corner

CT Dinosaur Trail Announces Fifth Location

HARTFORD, CT (July 12, 2013) – Officials today announced the addition of Stepping Stones Museum for Children as a fifth location on the Connecticut Dinosaur Trail. The new stop on the trail, located in Norwalk, CT, is home to award-winning exhibits, programs and live performances for children ten and under.  Along with many engaging, educational exhibits for kids to explore, the museum is also home to the Dinosaur Revolution: Live Large exhibit through September 8. In Dinosaur Revolution, visitors can uncover fossils and facts about dinosaurs as they navigate a giant maze, mimic dinosaur behavior and take on the role of junior paleontologist to find evidence of dinosaur doings.  In addition to the traveling exhibit, Stepping Stones also offers daily, drop-in companion programming including a dinosaur dig and special dinosaur related arts, crafts, improvisation and play.

The Connecticut Dinosaur Trail is a historic collaboration that brings together the private and public sector with state agencies to promote tourism in Connecticut. The primary partners include five of the state’s pre-eminent tourist attractions:  Connecticut Science CenterDinosaur State ParkThe Dinosaur Place,Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History and now, Stepping Stones Museum for Children

Each unique property offers exhibits and programs about dinosaurs and paleontology that draw on the rich history of dinosaur research and fossil discovery in the Connecticut Valley. The Dinosaur Trail links these venues and three hotel partners in the central and eastern portion of the state in a collaboration that recognizes the public’s fascination for dinosaurs, and the ability of these creatures to spark the imagination of young and old alike.

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Each of the primary partners offers a unique dinosaur experience. The Connecticut Science Center in downtown Hartford features dinosaurs as part of more than 150 thrilling permanent exhibits. Visitors can see the soaring Pterosaur and hear the roar of the life-like animatronic Dilophosaurus. Visitors can also see real fossils and find their very own in the Science Center’s dig pit.

Dinosaur State Park, a registered National Natural Landmark located in Rocky Hill, is home to over 2,000 Theropod dinosaur footprints left there 200 million years ago during the early Jurassic Period. Visitors can view more than 600 of the footprints inside the museum.  The park sits on 60 acres. Outside activities include track casting, a mining activity, over two miles of hiking trails and a picnic area.

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THE DINOSAUR PLACE™ at Nature’s Art Village, located in Oakdale, is a family owned and operated interactive science, nature and shopping adventure. Families exploring the outdoor nature trails will find over 40 life-sized dinosaur replicas and educational exhibits along the way. A state-of-the-art playground, maze and New England’s largest Splashpad®, a dinosaur-themed zero-depth water playground, offer more fun. Indoors visitors can visit Discovery Depot at Nature’s Art Village to pan for gold in a running creek, dig for gems in a man-made cave or unearth fossils in a replica fossil quarry.

The Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History in New Havenis a hub of dinosaur research, its vertebrate paleontology collection among the largest in the nation. Visitors entering the Great Hall will find themselves surrounded by dinosaur fossils 200 to 65 million years old, including the type specimens ofStegosaurus, Triceratops and a 70-foot-long Apatosaurus(“Brontosaurus”). Here also is Rudolph Zallinger’s famed muralThe Age of Reptiles, the world’s largest dinosaur painting.

The participation of hotel partners—Courtyard by Marriott NorwichHartford Marriott Downtown Hartford andCourtyard by Marriott Cromwell—makes it easier for tourists outside the area to experience the Trail and stay longer in the region.  Families registering at www.ctdinotrail.com can also receive discounts and perks.

 

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