On Saturday, March 24, the University of Wyoming Geological Museum hosted the second annual Fossil Fish Festival to celebrate the 31st anniversary of the naming of Knightia, Wyoming’s state fossil, while promoting the understanding of Wyoming’s aquatic life.
“We have one of the world’s largest fossil fish deposits in the Green River formation out by Kemmerer so we have the opportunity for kids and families to come and work and prepare their own fossil fish, but Wyoming [has] been under the ocean for lots of times not just a giant lake so we celebrate and we’re trying to promote the understanding of all of Wyoming’s aquatic life,” Dr. Laura Vietti, collection manager at the UW Geological Museum, said.
The event was a collaboration between UW Geology Museum and the Wyoming State Geological Survey and funded by the UW Geology Museum.
The event started at 11 a.m. and was free to everyone. Most of the visitors to the festival were UW students, kids and their parents. There were fossils, in addition to various stations, which engaged the public more regarding the understanding of the aquatic life.
“The station is all centered around the Wyoming fossil fish lake, so all these exhibits are kind of related to that,” UW Graduate Student Rachel Laker said.
There were different stations available for the attendees to engage in. At the virtual reality station, participants viewed the modern-day ecosystem, similar to the lake which occurred 15 million years ago. The prepping station provided freedom to prep a fossil fish where the attendees were given slabs, brushes and all the necessary prepping tools. A scavenger hunt station was also available where students and kids viewed the exhibits and learned about the lake.
The 3D printing station was a coloring exhibit. This year the Wyoming State Geological Survey, a state agency on campus, had a fossil coloring contest that consisted of children exploring their creativity and imagination regarding what they thought a fossil looked like. The coloring contest was open to all age groups and will be judged next week. The geologist at the Wyoming State Geological Survey will pick the top three and give away prizes.
“Well, it’s a family event and although all ages find some enjoyment, there’s activities for little kids, but adults also enjoy getting to see all the different fossils and watching the activities that we do here,” Christina George, outreach and publication manager at Wyoming State Geological Survey, said. “So yeah it’s kinda just one of those nice little family community events.”
The event also had two tours scheduled for the live fish lab, which connected the fossils of the past to the live fish of the present adding to the further success of the event.
“We’re really fortunate at the university here because we have a faculty member named Dr. Katie Wagner and she studies live fish in the evolution of a fish and her graduate student Jimena who’s here is offering to give fish of her lab,” Vietti said. “And so not only do we have research on fossil fish, but we also have research on live fish. So, it’s kind of a nice link between the modern and the past.”
