Washington Pavilion Announces New Prehistoric Adventure Climber

Adventure awaits when the newest feature in the Kirby Science Discovery Center at the Washington Pavilion is unveiled in November. The Prehistoric Adventure Climber will be completed and installed the week before Thanksgiving, just in time for families to enjoy the new climber and explore the Kirby Science Discovery Center's over 25,000 square feet of fun over the holiday break.

The Washington Pavilion is partnering with the David B. Jones Foundation to create the climber, which will both promote physical activity and provide education on dinosaurs. The exhibit will be installed on the fourth floor, near HealthQuest by Sanford, where the soaring ceilings will allow the climber to be two stories high and extend 18 feet into the air.

"The combination of fitness and education in this exhibit is very unique. Children will have so much fun being physically active, they won't even realize they are learning," says Brandon Hanson, Project Manager for the Washington Pavilion. "We also were very intentional about making as much of this climber as possible ADA-accessible. That was not an afterthought. Kids of all ages and abilities will gravitate toward this exhibit."

The Prehistoric Adventure Climber will offer experiences found nowhere else, including:

· Enter through a tunnel of dinosaur bones and explore passageways on four different levels. Crawl through crates, discover caves and climb numerous corridors in your quest to reach the top of the towering structure.

· Glide back down to the bottom the easy, fun and fast way on the 7-foot turbo tube slide or race a friend down on the side-by-side slides.

· Imagine how dinosaurs roared when you use the talk tubes to transmit your voice to different areas of the climber. The exhibit includes a dozen other interactives such as telescopes, puzzles and more.

· Fill buckets with dinosaur bones and use a pulley system to transfer them overhead to the other side. The exhibit's prehistoric theme extends through the colors and textures as you climb sedimentary rocks and find fossils. Radley Rex will be your tour guide.

The new addition to the Kirby Science Discovery Center will complement the third-floor paleontology exhibits, Dinosaur Discovery, as well as the health and wellness themed HealthQuest by Sanford and the Scheels Rock Wall on fourth floor.

"We are now nearly finished with what will be a major overhaul of the Kirby Science Discovery Center, which has been completely remodeled and reimagined over the past three years," says Jason Folkerts, Washington Pavilion Director of Museums. "A climbing experience in the science museum has been a dream for a long time, but we wanted an exhibit with an original design, a connection to science and a real wow factor. We certainly have accomplished those objectives with the Prehistoric Adventure Climber. It will fill the room and offer wall-to-wall and floor-to-ceiling fun."

This new exhibit is possible due to the support of fourth floor sponsor Sanford Health and an incredibly generous grant from the David B. Jones Foundation. The $220,000 grant covers all costs associated with the project, including design, fabrication and installation.

"A lot of children aren't exposed to paleontology in schools, but they love dinosaurs. The Foundation's goals in funding this exhibit are to attract young people to the science center and create more interest in the fields of paleontology and archaeology," says Jeffrey Malone, President of the David B. Jones Foundation.

Over the past 10 years, the David B. Jones Foundation has provided about $800,000 in grant funding to the Washington Pavilion for various projects.

If you aren't yet a member at the Washington Pavilion, now is the perfect time to join! Starting as low as $5.99 per month, enjoy free, year-round museum access along with other amazing benefits. For more information, call the Box Office at 605-367-6000 or visit washingtonpavilion.org. Daily admission rates apply for non-members.

Link to animation video of the Prehistoric Adventure Climber: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBjOXJKvMoU

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