By Louis Zylka
The 830 Times
“Dinosaur George” was honored on Thursday for his contribution to educating Del Rio’s youth with his traveling dinosaur museum.
George Blasing, who is better known as “Dinosaur George,” is a dinosaur expert who travels the state of Texas exhibiting unique fossils and prehistoric items. He has collaborated with the Whitehead Memorial Museum here for 20 years, doing dinosaur presentations and exhibits of his fossil collection.
Blasing brought his traveling museum to be displayed at the Del Rio Civic Center on Thursday and Friday, and local school classes were brought by school buses to see all the exhibits.
Blasing spoke with The 830 Times throughout the event and talked about his inspirations for creating his traveling museum. Blasing said he collected fossils as a child and a teenager, and he started his business in 1997 with the goal of showing his fossils to children at events and exhibitions.
Blasing said his traveling museum was created 10 years ago, and he will take his museum five days a week throughout the school year to various schools around the state of Texas. Gyms will be turned into museums for a day as teachers and parents will bring their students and children to see his dinosaur collection.
Blasing’s traveling museum includes 70–80 fossils from various countries such as Russia, Australia and China. He said new fossils are added to his collection “every school year” to show children “something different.”
Michael Diaz, director of the Whitehead Memorial Museum, said 907 students attended the exhibition on Thursday and 195 on Friday. All the students would gather in one group as Blasing
introduced himself and talked about his museum. Blasing would then give the children activities to do as they walked around the museum and read about the fossils, learning information such
as what animals they came from and where they were found.
Blasing thanked Diaz and the Whitehead Memorial Museum for inviting him to Del Rio throughout the years. Blasing said he has had a “spectacular collaboration” with the Whitehead over the years and called the Whitehead a “spectacular museum” covering important history. He said what makes the Whitehead standout from other museums is that its staff focuses on educating kids.
“Once I met (the Whitehead Memorial Museum’s crew) and saw their love for teaching, their focus was on the kids. A lot of museums forget the kids are the focus – they spend so much time
in meetings and so much time doing so many other things that they tend to forget that the kids are the museum’s future, so when Michael took over, he and the crew really turned the focus on the public,” Blasing said. “I love being invited, and it’s a great museum.”
Mayor Al Arreola also made an appearance at the dino event to present Blasing with a key to the city of Del Rio. Diaz also honored Blasing with more surprise gifts throughout the day, including a resolution made by the Whitehead Memorial Museum’s Board of Trustees declaring Blasing as a lifetime member of the Whitehead Memorial Museum, which comes with
a certificate and a membership card. Diaz also gifted Blasing with a trophy honoring him for his 20-year contribution to educating the youth in Del Rio.
Diaz spoke with The 830 Times during the event and said it was special to have Blasing visit Del Rio because it gives local students the memories of seeing dinosaur fossils for the first time.
“It is special to have him because there are a lot of students who may not be able to leave Del Rio and go to a museum and see these fossils, so when he comes to Del Rio, it’s special for
those students to be able to experience something they may not be able to see (otherwise),” Diaz said.
