Get your tickets to dine with the dinos

The Wyoming Dinosaur Center will celebrate the end of its most successful tourist season with a “Dining with Dinosaurs Gala” Saturday, Oct. 22 beginning at 5:30 p.m. at the center, 110 Carter Ranch Road.

Big Horn Basin Foundation Director and Wyoming Dinosaur Center Education Director Jessica Lippincott said the event will feature a string trio from the Wyoming Symphony Orchestra — Christine Dunbar on cello, Ben Winckler on violin and Jack Hess on viola — and guests will be served a four-course gourmet dinner in the dinosaur gallery area.

The menu includes passed hors d’ oeurves of candied bacon and crab cakes with garlic aioli, a five green salad with Kelly’s House Dressing and a main course of Tenderloin Wellington with demi-glace. A vegetarian option of roasted acorn squash with wild rice, walnuts and cranberries is also available. Dessert is strawberry rum trifle.

Also at the event will be Quick Draw Artist Alicia Blevins, and the keynote speaker is J.P. Cavigelli from the Tate Geological Museum in Casper, who will present on the Tate’s Tyrannosaurus Rex. The gala also includes a presentation regarding the center’s plans for a new facility, to be built at the business park south of town. Lippincott said they hope to break ground on the new building in the spring.

There will also be a silent auction, Lippincott noted, and one live auction item. Proceeds from the event will support the center’s educational outreach and global marketing activities, such as the Wyoming Dinosaur Center Foundation, which will be a nonprofit organization resulting from the merger of the Big Horn Basin Foundation and Wyoming Dinosaur Center.

Tickets for the gala are $140 per person, and may be purchased online at http://wdcgala.eventbrite.com. Ticket purchasers must specify their menu preference. Space is limited to 130, so purchase your tickets as soon as possible. For more information, contact Lippincott at 921-2890 or foundation@wyodino.org.