Dino Fest is an established award winning annual event in Lancaster city centre. Each summer we fill the city centre with dinosaurs and bring smiles to thousands of visitors young and old. The event brings local history to life as Lancaster was the home of Sir Richard Owen - the man who invented the word Dinosaur. This year, with your help, the event will expand over two weeks with free half day dinosaurs workshops leading up to the main Dino Fest weekend in July. Pupils from ten local primary schools will each spend half a day in the city centre participating in a variety of fun and educational activities to learn about dinosaurs and the connection with Lancaster. Dino Fest weekend on 8/9 July will see the city come alive with more dinosaurs than ever before. The event will also include Dino Workshops, a mobile museum, fossil handling, talks from dinosaur experts, a city centre dinosaur trail, face painting and more. Best of all, almost everything will be FREE to take part.

What we'll deliver:

• Workshops for 10 local primary schools benefitting around 500 pupils
• Over 15 dinosaurs of all sizes in the city centre over two days including some new to Lancaster
• A mobile dinosaur museum containing over 500 real and replica bones and fossils
• A dinosaur trail to hunt for dinosaurs in shop windows throughout the city centre
• Opportunity to handle real dinosaur fossils and hear about them from experts
• A dinosaur and fossil market
• Award winning family fun which attracts around 5,000 people into Lancaster city centre

Why it's a great idea:

This award winning event will return with more dinosaurs than ever before. Dino Fest reliably draws over 5,000 people into Lancaster City Centre for two action packed days of free family fun. The day will have something for everyone with a balance between entertainment and education. Ten local Primary schools will receive free half day dinosaur workshops including coach travel to learn about dinosaurs and our links with Richard Owen. They will take a walking tour discovering sites linked to Richard Owen, explore the City Museum and hunt for dinosaurs hidden in the windows of businesses. The event will boost city centre footfall by over 20% throughout the weekend bringing additional trade to help support local businesses. Visitors will also be encouraged to explore the city centre discovering new businesses as they go. The event is one of the flagship annual events which put Lancaster on the map and encourage visitors from outside the immediate area giving the city a real boost.

Steps to get it done:

• Full funding secure - May 2023
• Confirm 10 local primary schools to participate in the free workshops - May 2023
• Commission the dinosaurs and other providers to finalise the action packed programme - May 2023
• Launch event marketing campaign across radio, print, digital and flyers - May 2023
• Launch City Centre Dino Trail in windows of businesses throughout city centre - June 2023
• Deliver free educational dinosaur workshops to 10 local primary schools - June / July 2023
• Dino Fest weekend - two days of dinosaur themed entertainment throughut the city centre - July 2023
• Project evaluation and learning for the future - by September 2023

Dino Fest is award winning - the 2022 event was part of a portfolio of events which won the 'Toursim & Visitor Attraction' award at the Bay Business Excellence Awards. Dino Fest is also a finalist in the 2022 Lancashire Tourism Awards in the 'Small Event of The Year' category for events of up to 15,000 people. The overall winner of this award will be announced in February. Finally, Dino Fest contibuted to Lancaster's nomination in the 'Rising Star' category of the Visa Let's Celebrate Towns Awards as part of a summer long events programme. Results of these awards will be announced at a ceremony in the Palace of Westminster in March. With your support, we can make sure that the event not only retains these high standards but is even bigger and better for 2023.