PHOTOS: Another roaring success for Lancaster’s Dino Fest

Monday, 15 July 2024 13:18

Dino Fest came roaring back into Lancaster city centre over the weekend.

Dinosaur-themed events for all the family included dinosaur appearances, fossil handling, talks, shows, dino crafts, and a Dino Marketplace.

The event attracted thousands of visitors with Penny Street seeing the busiest weekend so far this year with a 30 per cent boost in footfall compared to the previous weekend and even busier than Dino Fest last year, said organisers Lancaster BID (Business Improvement District).

People came into the city from far and wide for Dino Fest with visitors recorded Preston, Bolton, Kendal, Ingleton, Blackpool, Chorley, Pendle and Manchester.

This brought a significant economic boost to the city with 77 per cent of visitors responding to the survey so far indicating they spent £10 or more in the city during their visit. The BID said that 56 per cent of responders had visited hospitality venues in the city centre whilst 46 per cent had shopped with independent retailers.

An independent hospitality business said they had been busy throughout the weekend and that Dino Fest had made a huge positive impact on their trade, whilst a city centre retailer said they had been so busy over the weekend that it felt like Christmas.

From Lancaster BID research, visitors were overwhelmingly delighted with the event with 92 per cent giving Dino Fest a mark of eight or above out of 10. Over half of the responses so far have scored Dino Fest with a maximum 10 out of 10 rating the event as ‘outstanding’ and a huge 98 per cent have said they would either ‘probably’ of ‘definitely’ recommend the event to friends.

Roxy the T Rex, Betsy the Triceratops, Zuki the World’s Largest Stomping Stegosaurus and the Magical Megalosaurus made an appearance, roaming the streets of Lancaster.

Events were also centred around Market Square and Dalton Square, with other activities at the City Museum, Judges' Lodgings, The Dukes, Lancaster Library, St Nic's Arcades and Marketgate shopping centre.

There was also an interactive ‘How to Train Your Dinosaur’ show in Market Square.

Here are a selection of images from the event, by Joshua Brandwood.

Full gallery here