The Royal Tyrrell Museum kicks off autumn with two projects that link art and science - palaeo arts and DinoMechanics.
    The museum’s annual Palaeo Arts contest is open for those from kindergarten to grade 12.
    Entrants are permitted one entry into the contest.
    “Each year we have a different specimen, fossil specimen, that students use for their inspiration or focus, and this year we’ve got a lambeosaurus skull,” said  Earle Weibe, Head of Education at the Royal Tyrrell.    
    Lambeosaurus fossils were discovered in Southern Alberta, notably Dinosaur Provincial Park, and Montana, said Weibe.
    It is a duck billed dinosaur, also known as a hadrosaur, that lived in the late cretaceous period 75 to 76 million years ago.    The dinosaur was named after palaeontologist Lawrence Lambe who discovered it in 1898. It was the first crested duck bill dinosaur found in North America.
    The skull is viewable in the museum or on the museum’s website under programs, school programs, then click on Palaeo Arts contest.
    “The nice thing about this contest is that it combines art and science. It shows the connection between the two, that scientists work closely together with palaeo artists to be able to reconstruct and show what these animals and the environment looked like.”
    And for school groups Wiebe said the museum is in the process of developing a new program for junior high students.
    “DinoMechanics” will be a gallery program where students will be divided into groups, each representing a different dinosaur family.
    The students will then go through the museum’s gallery of artistic displays, making observations and measurements, collecting data, then sorting through the data and analyzing it to come up with some conclusions.
    “It’s helping them learn and discover what palaeontologists do and how they go about their research, and how important collecting data is,” said Wiebe.
    The DinoMechanics classes can be scheduled during the less-busy times for the museum, such as fall and early spring, and are scheduled to begin this fall.

    The “haunted” Atlas Coal Mine is celebrating ten years of making people jump, scream, and look over their shoulders.
    “Our theme is ‘Ten Years of Terror,’ said Jen Balderston, Director of Misery and Woe.
    “It’s going to highlight the best spooks and scares of the last nine seasons, so it’s bound to be horrifying.”
    Eeek. Might be busy that day....
    Balderston said for the first time, the Atlas is offering tickets online for both the Big Boo and Little Boo.
    The Atlas has been busy lining up the assorted ghouls and ghosts that make the event.
    “Typically we use about 200 volunteer and staff members to pull these things off, over four days,” said Balderston, “and the community just really bands together.”
    Balderston said businesses have also been really supportive over the years, including with the feeding of their halloween event volunteers.
    For those not wanting to jump out of their skin every ten minutes, attending the kinder, gentler Little Boo is an option.
    “It’s really activity based, so we get the families out,” said Balderston. “And with the kids, we encourage them to come in costume.”
    Balderston said games and activities include pumpkin tossing and bobbing for apples. 
    Atlas volunteers all voted on what they thought was the best Little Boo activities over the nine years, and those will also be combined to make this year’s event.
    Balderston said a popular attraction last year was the lie detector test.
    “We had Detective Phibbs and The Truth Fairy in the washhouse, and the kids got hooked up to this lie detector that the Tyrrell Museum gave us, and were asked really silly questions such as “Have you ever peed in a pool?” It was a riot.”
    This year the Big Boo runs October 18 and 25, the Little Boo runs October 19 & 26.