“But kids enjoy this stuff,” Tompkins observed regarding the dinosaur infatuation among the young. “The line has never ended since we started this,” Doug Tompkins, one of the crew members, said around noon while assisting children in mounting and dismounting a triceratops ride during the festival that had begun two hours earlier. This was intensified by the hot pavement on which folks had to stand while waiting in line for dinosaur rides or to touch replicas of the fabled denizens that once ruled the earth. Similar to the figure of a brontosaurus that loomed over the proceedings, Cockerham was expecting final turnout to tower above that of a previous Ed’s Dinosaurs Live appearance in Pilot Mountain in 2019.Īnd keep in mind that all this was unfolding under a searing sun that baked the crowd in temperatures of around 90 degrees. “We’ve already had 3,000 in the first couple of hours today,” Pilot Mountain Mayor Evan Cockerham said of the attendance shortly after noon Saturday, with about two hours still to go for the Dinosaurs on Main event. Parking spaces also were hard to come by in the downtown vicinity. Nearly every inch of ground surrounding the town hall parking lot was filled with people - mostly parents with small children, some riding in strollers and others perched on the adults’ shoulders, but nearly all with looks of awe on their faces. Of course, none were real, although some appeared to be alive - and appropriately fearsome - thanks to the animation skills of Ed’s Dinosaurs Live, a Concord-based outfit that provides educational entertainment of the prehistoric variety at events including festivals and parades.Īnd the interactive exhibits, rides and other attractions featuring lifelike dinosaurs which Ed’s brought to downtown Pilot Mountain Saturday for an event free to the public showed that while those creatures themselves are extinct, their human admirers certainly are not. PILOT MOUNTAIN - Even if there were such a creature as the Heat Monster, it would’ve been no match for the brontosaurus, triceratops, tyrannosaurus rex and other dinosaur species that invaded downtown Pilot Mountain over the weekend.

Phoenix Groce, 3, pets the T-Rex while perched on the shoulders of his aunt, Anna Akers. Crowds gather in the town hall parking lot as a brontasaurus (not real) watches over the proceedings.Ī pterosaur, a flying reptile, hovers over dinosaur fans with Pilot Knob visible in the background.ĭoug Tompkins assists a young girl with a ride on a triceratops.

How to Draw Dinosaurs, by Steve Miller.