2018 a banner year for Morden dinosaur museum

Manitoba’s own dinosaur museum had a tyrannosaurus-sized 2018, crushing attendance records.

The Canadian Fossil Discovery Centre (CFDC) in Morden saw a total of 15,243 people walk through its doors, eclipsing the previous record of 12,854.

Last year marks the third consecutive year of record attendance for the museum, which has grown by a whopping 131 per cent since 2013.

The museum’s director, Peter Cantelon, credits the continued growth to the CFDC’s efforts at building awareness and developing new exhibits and programs.

“We expect to continue to see growth for the forseeable future as long as we continue to work for it,” said Cantelon.

“We’re adding numerous programs and additional mobile app features in the coming year as well as new exhibits.”

The CFDC is one of the country’s only museums dedicated solely to paleontology and holds a Guinness World Record for the largest publicly displayed mosasaur.

Morden’s new Xiphactinus statue.

That mosasaur, Bruce, is also part of the museum’s outreach into the wider Morden community.

A 14-metre life-size replica of Bruce is located at the city’s entrance, and a 4.5-metre long Archelon sea turtle (named Archie) is in the city’s west end.

The replicas were joined in 2018 by a 4.5-metre long replica of Xiphactinus, a ferocious prehistoric fish.

Source: Read Full Article