The Dinosaurs of BC exhibit is at Okanagan Heritage Museum to Sept. 30. (Jordy Cunningham/Capital News)

‘Everyone loves dinosaurs’: New exhibit opens for the summer at Kelowna museum

June 6, 2024 // by Jordy Cunningham

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Bust in and meet Buster at the Dinosaurs of BC exhibit this summer at the Okanagan Heritage Museum.

Previously hosted at the Royal BC Museum in Victoria, the exhibit is now in Kelowna for the summer, thanks to funding from the Government of Canada and Chances Casino.

“We’re just so excited to have it here,” said Kelowna Museums Society’s curatorial manager Amanda Snyder. “Everyone loves dinosaurs.”

Included in the exhibit is Buster, a newly discovered species of dinosaur, that was found along the railway near the Systut River near Smithers, B.C. in the 1970s. Geologist Kenny Larsen found the fossil bones from a small, plant-eating dinosaur that was a distant cousin of the Triceratops.

The Dinosaurs of BC exhibit features many different dinosaur displays, including displays of tracks from the prehistoric creatures. (Jordy Cunningham/Capital News)

In 2019, after examining the bones again, two Canadian paleontologists identified the bones as a dinosaur unique to B.C. – Ferrisaurus sustutensis, otherwise known as The Iron Lizard or Buster.

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In addition to the new dinosaur, the exhibit features many different dinosaur displays, including early versions of tyrannosauruses, plus displays of tracks from the prehistoric creatures.

“We have a number of different trackways,” Snyder says. “Some of the oldest fossils are from 145 million years ago.”

A special Dinosaurs of BC exhibit opening is planned for June 15 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Okanagan Heritage Museum. (Jordy Cunningham/Capital News)

The exhibit will be in Kelowna until Sept. 30, with a special opening on Saturday, June 15 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. where children can dig real fossils.

During the four months it’s in town, the museum will host a variety of public programs, including Dino-Sundays, activities for kids throughout the summer weeks, various speakers and Wine-and-Dinos for adults.

(Jordy Cunningham/Capital News)

If you go:

See Dinosaurs of B.C. through Sept. 30, with an opening celebration June 15.
The Okanagan Heritage Museum is open daily in Kelowna at 470 Queensway Ave.
Learn more at kelownamuseums.ca/museum/okanagan-heritage-museum

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