GREENFIELD – Local families learned about some of the residents who roamed the same spots about 200 million years ago that they do now at the second annual Great Greenfield DinoFest.
Throughout the day on Saturday, there were events centered around dinosaurs and their history in Greenfield.
There was a brontosaurus brunch, a performance of “Greenfield’s Grumpiest T-rex” and dino movies with a live score, as well as hands-on activities for children outside of Second Congregational Church.
While there were many experts at the DinoDest, many children that attended were budding paleontologists – some able to name complicated dinosaurs.
Charlie Dennis, 11, said he liked the crafts he made the most. He got to use a sieve to find a fossil, make a necklace of a footprint and look at real fossils from the Jurassic Roadshow. Dennis said he thought it was cool that Dexter Marsh, a Greenfield resident in the 1800s, was able to find dinosaur tracks in what would have been downtown Greenfield.
“It’s really awesome to be able to have found dino tracks,” Dennis said. “Dinosaurs are awesome. The spinosaurus is my favorite dinosaur, because it can swim and walk on land and it has a cool spine.”
Dennis said he liked to able to do crafts – so he could make any dinosaur he wanted.
Some of the events included learning about geology by looking at rocks through a microscope.
Hawks and Reed hosted a full house to watch dinosaurs sing, dance and fight with each other in the youth troupe of the Piti Theatre production of “Greenfield’s Grumpiest T-rex.”
The young actors portrayed a variety of dinosaurs in the play. They said they decided to be in the play because of their love of the stage, as well as the scaly creatures in the cast.
Hendrick Carew, 9, said he was in the show because liked to act and he likes dinosaurs.
“The voices of the dinosaurs are my favorite thing. I really like to hear the sounds they make,” Carew said. He added that he watched a movie about dinosaurs recently and learned about the noises they make.
“My favorite dinosaur is the rhamphorhynchus, because it flies and it is really noisy,” he said.
Carew said he thinks people should go to the DinoFest because, “dinosaurs are the some of the first creatures on our planet and you can learn new facts about them.”
Desmond Arnold, 7, said he was honored to be able to play the dilophosaurus – one of the dinosaurs discovered by Marsh. Arnold said he recently watched “Jurassic Park,” noticing there was a dilophosaurus in the film that spits acid.
“I like the dilophosaurus, because they’re big and strong and they were real — so it’s cool to think about,” Arnold said. “Dinofest is cool and it’s something that might scare kids, but it’s fun. It’s working up to Halloween.”
While some people planned on going to the DinoFest, others stumbled upon it.
Elizabeth Diamond said she usually comes to the farmers market on Saturdays, and she’s heard of the bee festival, so she decided to bring her children to the DinoFest.
“It’s great to have free events like this in town,” Diamond said. “We’ve been making dinosaurs the whole time.”