T.rex Draws Largest Opening-Weekend Crowd
Puke Ariki has had its largest-ever opening weekend with the temporary exhibition A T. rex Named Sue.
On Saturday more than 1,000 children and adults turned up to see the 12.8m-long skeleton of the Tyrannosaurus Rex, with more 1,200 people viewing the exhibition yesterday (Sunday).
“It’s been our biggest opening weekend by a long shot – even outdoing the hugely popular Da Vinci Machines and Sir Edmund Hillary exhibitions,” says Manager Business Development Graeme Sykes.
“People of all ages have come along to see Sue, with the exhibition gallery full throughout each day and the sand pit particularly popular with the kids.
“And our Vivid shop was so busy it was like Christmas time.
“We knew that Sue would be extremely popular, but the numbers over the weekend have outstripped even our best estimates before opening day.”
People with a Puke Ariki card and those under 16 can see the exhibition for free, while for all others it costs $10.
Any Taranaki residents who don’t have a Puke Ariki card can fill in an application form in either the north or south wing of Puke Ariki.
About 250 people joined Puke Ariki during the weekend just to see the T. rex show.
“Our main exhibition gallery is a reasonably moderate-sized space that can take about 110 people comfortably with the information pods that are currently installed, so I’d like to thank everyone for their patience during the weekend,” says Mr Sykes.
“We wanted to provide a safe, enjoyable experience for everyone and the gallery was full most of the time. We could only let people in to the exhibition based on the number leaving.”
Discovered in 1990 by commercial fossil hunter Sue Hendrickson in North Dakota, USA, Sue is the world’s largest, most complete and best preserved T. rex skeletons ever discovered. It is on loan from the Field Museum in Chicago.
A series of public events has been organised during the exhibition’s run, details of which are available on www.pukeariki.com.
A T. rex Named Sue will run until 2 November.