The Cambridge Natural History Museum Two Year Anniversary Party will feature a family-friendly fun run, free timed museum tours, games, a scavenger hunt, educational presentations, light refreshments and a movie to close out the evening. All events are free and open to the public.
The celebration will begin at 9 a.m. with the Downtown Dino Dash at College Square Park. The family-friendly dash will take participants one lap around the park, staying entirely on the sidewalks. Finisher medals will be awarded, and dinosaur and animal costumes are encouraged.
The museum will open for free timed tours beginning at 10 a.m. Tour groups will be limited to up to 20 people, with visits scheduled in 20-minute time slots. The museum will close for a lunch break at noon and reopen for tours at 1 p.m. before closing at 4:20 p.m. Guests are encouraged to reserve their museum tour time in advance at: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0444A4AA22ABF4CE9-64915495-museum.
At 4:30 p.m., families are invited back to College Square Park for a scavenger hunt and games. The scavenger hunt will feature Easter eggs filled with small prizes.
The evening portion of the celebration will take place at the Cambridge Public Library, where light refreshments will be available. Presentations will begin at 5:15 p.m. with a curator introduction by Anderson Taylor, followed by three educational programs.
At 5:30 p.m., Olive Rivers will present “Animal Underdogs.” Rivers is a zoology, paleontology and botany lover, business owner and amateur philosopher from Moline, Illinois. At 13 years old, she owns a small exotic pet-focused business selling isopods, springtails and supplies, and dreams of one day owning a zoo or museum focused on biology education.
At 6 p.m., Trenton Taber will present “What Was Soil Like When the Dinosaurs Roamed?” Taber is entering his 12th year teaching high school agriculture in Cambridge. He earned his undergraduate degree in Agricultural Education from Western Illinois University and a master’s degree from Iowa State University. He enjoys using his background in agriculture to help students understand where their food comes from.
At 6:30 p.m., Bob Underwood will present “The Guiding Principles of Arboriculture: An Introduction to the Field of Tree Care Based on Tree Biology and Nature.” Underwood has been involved in arboriculture since 1967, is a member of several arboriculture associations, has presented to audiences ranging from national parks and grounds professionals to high school students, and was an associate professor of urban forestry at Dakota College in Bottineau, North Dakota.
Each presentation will last approximately 25 minutes, with time for questions and answers. The celebration will conclude with a movie at the Cambridge Public Library beginning at 7 p.m. The movie will be approximately 90 minutes long.
Community members are invited to bring the family, invite friends and help celebrate two years of discovery at the Cambridge Natural History Museum.
Schedule of Events
9:00 a.m. — Downtown Dino Dash at College Square Park
10:00 a.m. — Museum tours begin
12:00 p.m. — Lunch break; museum closed
1:00 p.m. — Museum tours resume
4:20 p.m. — Museum closes
4:30 p.m. — Scavenger hunt and games at College Square Park
Presentations at Cambridge Public Library
5:15 p.m. — Curator Introduction with Anderson Taylor
5:30 p.m. — “Animal Underdogs” with Olive Rivers
6:00 p.m. — “What Was Soil Like When the Dinosaurs Roamed?” with Trenton Taber
6:30 p.m. — “The Guiding Principles of Arboriculture” with Bob Underwood
7:00 p.m. — Movie at Cambridge Public Library
