April 23, 2023, Greeley Tribune headline “A Unique Piece of County History: Weld County’s dinosaur fossil returns home after restoration at Denver Museum.”
In 2018, the Denver Museum of Nature and Science (DMNS) reached out to Weld County Government with a proposal to study and restore the fossil, and after many conversations and legal agreements, Pops was headed back out on the road.
In 2020, DMNS staff carefully prepared Pops for his fifth road trip, this time from Greeley to Denver. For several months, the fossil was on display at the museum while restoration work and research were completed. This time, however, the trip was not done quietly. Fans from around the world were able to keep up with the project via social media — from the making of the plaster jacket to remove the fossil safely from the building to the hours of work by staff at the museum caring not only for the skull but also for the four additional boxes of fossil found under the original display case.
Once the museum’s work was complete, Pops took yet another trip (the sixth for the fossil) — this time through the mountains and over the Continental Divide to the studio of Rob Gaston in Fruita. Gaston, well known for his casting of fossils, has worked with the DMNS on multiple projects and was commissioned to create casts of the Pops fossils for DMNS to house and researchers to access.
“What a privilege to be able to have something right there in front of you; you can touch it, and it’s got that history,” said Gaston when asked about working on restoration of the Pops fossil. When asked what it was like to work on the fossil, Gaston continued, “It’s very typical of a lot of the material we get, probably even better.” Gaston estimates that 75% of Pops’ skull is complete with actual fossilized bone.
Once Gaston completed his part of the Pops project, it was time to send the fossil back to Weld County. After almost two and a half years away from home, Pops was carefully loaded into a white van and brought back to the county administration building — fully restored, new case and all! Leg seven of Pops’ travels complete.
Reminiscent of Wade’s 1986 article, Tribune reporter Trevor Reid began his 2023 article, “After a relatively very short stay in Denver, a Weld County resident of more than 69 million years is back home.”
And, much like what happened in 1986, the homecoming was celebrated by the community. The display cases were covered for the big welcome home event, new artwork was printed to display next to not one, but two, new cases, and updated signage was installed to tell the story of the famous and well-traveled dinosaur.
At the official unveiling of the fossil on April 21, 2023, Terri Mapelli DeMoney, daughter of Sonny Mapelli, was overcome with emotion.
“Dad would have been so proud,” she said, as she looked at a room filled with families. Cupcakes, dinosaur songs, photos of the Pops projects projected on the screens, and lots of laughing and chatter from children emphasized the excitement attendees had for Pops’ long-awaited return.
“This is exactly what dad wanted.”
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