Walking with dinosaurs: George S. Eccles Dinosaur Park celebrates its 15th anniversary

OGDEN — They stand tall against the sky, these dinosaurs. They loom.

On a typical Saturday at the George S. Eccles Dinosaur Park, hundreds of children and parents learn how it feels to be dwarfed by dinosaurs. They wander among scale models representing dinosaurs that actually roamed this area millions of years ago.

The visitors stand close to the dinosaurs, and then they look up. They can't help but notice the size of the teeth and claws. The Eccles Dinosaur Park is a good place for folks who like to pretend they are about to be devoured.

This spring the park turned 15 years old. As summer comes and parents across the state look for a place to take their children, more of them are discovering the Dinosaur Park, park manager Kevin Ireland says.

"No question our numbers are up. Up over 35 percent from where we were two years ago," Ireland reports.

"We are finally getting the word out in the Salt Lake Valley. We get visitors from Idaho, Wyoming, Nevada. Teachers bring their classes. We are expecting over 150,000 visitors this year."

The park features more than 125 dinosaurs, displayed on eight acres on the south side of the Ogden River, near the mouth of Ogden Canyon. Ireland says the city owns 11 more acres on the other side of the river and there are plans to expand the park.

He credits one local man, Bob Marquardt, with the initial vision. Ireland describes how Marquardt convinced the city that something more could be done with the property and then went out and solicited donations to build a museum and put walkways through the scrub oak.

At first the Dinosaur Park was a collaboration between Ogden city and Weber State University. Now the city pays for operations, and a foundation raises money for new exhibits, Ireland explains.

The newest addition to the Eccles Dinosaur Park is a big one. On an upper floor of the Stewart Museum, the park now displays a huge collection of gems, minerals and petrified wood, a collection that was previously on display in Ogden's Union Station.

The vision for this particular exhibit belonged to a couple of Ogden schoolteachers — Jean Case and his wife, Helena. The Cases, who helped start the Golden Spike Gem and Mineral Society, donated their collection to the public in 1988. Before their deaths, the Cases convinced many of their fellow collectors to donate as well.