Dinosaur George returns to Del Rio, brings traveling museum to Civic Center

Dinosaur George brought his traveling museum back to the Del Rio Civic Center on Saturday, giving families an eight-hour chance to see fossils, skulls and prehistoric exhibits without leaving Val Verde County.

The public opening ran from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at 1915 Veterans Blvd., with admission set at $5 for adults and $3 for children. Every dollar from school visits and general admission was designated for Whitehead Memorial Museum, the nonprofit history museum that focuses on the early history of Del Rio and Val Verde County.

George Blasing said he planned to stay all day Saturday to answer questions about dinosaurs and prehistoric life. He said the traveling museum typically includes about 80 fossils, each labeled with information explaining where the animals came from, and this visit added nearly a dozen new items, including fossils from sea animals found in Texas and two skulls from prehistoric animals found abroad.

For local families, the draw was as practical as it was educational. The exhibit mixed hands-on learning with a small gift shop offering dinosaur toys, plush items, real fossils and crystals. Dinosaur George Company says the traveling museum is based in San Antonio, travels to schools from prekindergarten through high school across Texas and the continental United States, and is sponsored by KLRN, the San Antonio PBS affiliate. KLRN describes it as one of the largest traveling school exhibits in the country and says it includes bilingual English and Spanish learning materials.

Blasing has visited Del Rio for more than 15 years, and his long partnership with Whitehead Memorial Museum has made the stop a familiar one for area classrooms. Last year’s school visits drew 907 students on Thursday and 195 on Friday, according to museum director Michael Diaz, showing how much local demand there is for a science attraction that usually requires a trip out of town.

That makes Saturday’s return more than a novelty. A Del Rio family with two adults and two children could get in for $16, and the money went back to the museum hosting the event. For a county that does not often get a traveling natural-history exhibit of this size, the civic center stop offered a rare local chance to see the collection in person and support a community museum at the same time.