The University of Wyoming Geology Museum will host its third annual Fossil Fish Festival this Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. with activities for people of all ages.
The festival began in 2017 in honor of the 30-year anniversary of the naming of the extinct bony fish Knightia as the state fossil of Wyoming and has now become an annual event for students and the greater Laramie community.
“It’s meant to be an awareness event of Wyoming’s most incredible fossil resources,” said Laura Vietti, Geology Museum collections manager. “We invite the public to the museum and have a couple small activities with the theme of fish being the central aspect. It’s a great way to interact with and learn about the Wyoming fossil fish record.”
The Knightia fish fossil can be found abundantly throughout the Green River formation in southwestern Wyoming. These fossils are often found in mass together since Knightia were school fish, and there are fossil beds found throughout the Green River Formation.
“The most popular activity, which is what it is centered around, are the fossil fish pieces collected by myself in fossil fish beds near Kemmerer,” said Vietti. “These pieces are not scientifically important, but available to anyone that wants one. This activity shows the process of prep out, allowing people to learn to be a paleontologist with exposure to cool resources, and they get to take it home after learning about it.”
Other activities include a fish themed scavenger hunt and the opportunity to for a turn to spin the fossil wheel of fortune. Also, there will be a virtual reality activity, compliments of the soils lab, with virtual field trips to modern day oceans and lakes.
“The museum doesn’t do many large scale events throughout the year,” said Vietti. “This is really the only main one in the spring, where we put together activities, to bring together a lot of aspects of Wyoming. This highlights the deep roots of Wyoming fossils, which is important to UW and the state as a whole. It is a fun community event to look forward to every year.”
This event is student-led, with museum staff and volunteers helping, and could not be put on each year without donors and museum support.
