Fossil Fest hits Rudyard

The premiere fossil fest at Rudyard, a town with a long connection to paleontolgy and fossils, seems to have been a great success, with events Friday and all day Saturday.

Friday included visits to the town's museums, including the Dinosaur Museum of the Depot and Dinosaur Museum, with world-class displays on exhibit.

When a fossil of a duckbilled Gyrposaurus was found north of Rudyard at a Museum of the Rockies site - Shelby native Jack Horner, a world-famous paleontologist, was the curator of paleontology at the museum - in the summer of 2004, locals wanted to display it in the town's Depot Museum, which was created in 1994.

But the Depot Museum didn't have space for "The Oldest Sorehead," as the fossil was called in honor of the town's Old Sorehead tradition.

That led to the construction of the Dinosaur Museum, which opened in 2006.

The museum, part of Montana's Dinosaur Trail and affiliated with The Museum of the Rockies, has numerous archeological as well as paleontological exhibits.

A main feature at Fossil Fest was a presentation by Horner, perhaps best known for his advisory capacity to the Jurassic Park movie series - and that the character Alan Grant was based on him in the novel.

Horner presented at the theater in Rudyard Friday, and special films were shown there during the festival as well.

Horner also was at the dinosaur museum Friday night in an event that included wine and cheese, lemonade and cookies and live music by Celtic Highlanders.

Saturday continued with activities from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. with a 3-on-3 basketball tournament, food and craft vendors and the museums in Rudyard all being open.

Saturday evening's final event was music by Shakedown County until 9 p.m.