Dinosaurs roar at Perry fairgrounds

The roar of dinosaurs and children echoed through the McGill Marketplace at the Georgia National Fairgrounds and Agricenter this weekend.

Thousands of people went to see the nationally touring Discover the Dinosaurs show that features robotic creatures from the past. The show, held Saturday and Sunday, shattered its crowd expectations, said Jesse Crouch, the production manager. He said the goal was to draw 4,000 over both days but they had 4,100 on Saturday alone. As he spoke Sunday, a long line of people waited to get inside.

Among those were Natasha Unlu, of Warner Robins, and her two children — Ayaz, 10, and Asiye, 5. Also with them was Unlu’s mom, Rabia Cekill. Cekill said she shares a passion for dinosaurs with her grandchildren. They estimated they have watched “Jurassic Park” more than 20 times.

“I still scream in the same parts,” Cekill.

Unlu said her mom and son communicate frequently about any dinosaur movies they discover on Netflix. When they find one, they like to get together and watch it.

Unlu said her mom enjoyed the show Sunday more than anyone else in their group.

The show featured nine dinosaurs of varying species and sizes. Crouch said they actually have 12 but didn’t have room in the building for all of them. Next year they plan to be back at the fairgrounds but hope to have a larger building to will house all 12.

The dinosaurs do not walk, but the heads and tails move, and some of them roar. Children also had the chance to play at archeology by brushing away sand in a box to uncover dinosaur bones.

This story was originally published February 12, 2017 at 4:27 PM with the headline "Dinosaurs roar at Perry fairgrounds."