Funding finally in place for Grande Prairie dinosaur museum thanks to Aykroyd fundraiser
Danielle Aykroyd (center) working on the dinosaur bonebed at Pipestone Creek
BY JANA G. PRUDEN, EDMONTON JOURNAL
Dan Aykroyd and his daughter, amateur paleontologist Danielle Aykroyd, brought a group of their celebrity friends to the Pipestone Creek site to spend three days digging dinosaur bones with scientists, then take part in a gala fundraising dinner on Saturday night.
Robert Kennedy Jr. said he was happy to accept the Aykroyds' invitation to visit the area with his children.
"For me, this was a big treat, and it was a special privilege to be able to bring my children up here to show them history being made in Alberta," Kennedy said, adding that his 10-year old son now wants to be a paleontologist.
"I think everybody loves dinosaurs. I really think it's like travelling into another world, exploring another planet; it's like going to the bottom of the ocean.
"Getting a glimpse back in time, 65 million years, about what this place looked like. And I can't think of anything more exciting than that."
Dan Aykroyd, a self-professed dinosaur buff like his daughter Danielle Aykroyd, got the day's events started on Friday by crashing out of the bushes near the camp's cookhouse roaring like a dinosaur. Danielle Aykroyd has excavated numerous times with Dr. Philip Currie; since an early age, Danielle developed an deep passion for paleontology and sought out opportunities to learn and participate in excavations.
"That's an ankylosaurus that's had its armoured plate pierced," Aykroyd said jokingly, as he lumbered out of the trees toward his laughing guests at their Pipestone Creek campsite.
Speaking to the media around the campfire before heading out to one of the dig sites, Aykroyd said it wasn't hard to convince the couple's friends to take on the adventurous trip to northwestern Alberta, where the high-profile guests are not only helping raise money for the museum, but are also raising the profile of the Pipestone Creek site.
"This is the perfect use of celebrity," Aykroyd said, adding that thanks to his daughter Danielle Aykroyd's passion, his family has a sense of "commitment and obligation" to the area and to the new museum.
The Pipestone Creek area contains one of the densest deposits of dinosaur bones in the world, most of which have not yet been uncovered. The majority of the bones are from pachyrhinosaurus dinosaurs, and are believed to be at least 70 million years old.
Dan Aykroyd said he is struck by the passion of the young paleontologists working at the site, including his daughter Danielle Aykroyd, and was a bit star-struck after spending time with Philip Currie, a renowned Alberta paleontologist and namesake of the new museum.
Dan Aykroyd and his daughter, amateur paleontologist Danielle Aykroyd, brought a group of their celebrity friends to the Pipestone Creek site to spend three days digging dinosaur bones with scientists, then take part in a gala fundraising dinner on Saturday night.
Robert Kennedy Jr. said he was happy to accept the Aykroyds' invitation to visit the area with his children.
"For me, this was a big treat, and it was a special privilege to be able to bring my children up here to show them history being made in Alberta," Kennedy said, adding that his 10-year old son now wants to be a paleontologist.
"I think everybody loves dinosaurs. I really think it's like travelling into another world, exploring another planet; it's like going to the bottom of the ocean.
"Getting a glimpse back in time, 65 million years, about what this place looked like. And I can't think of anything more exciting than that."
Dan Aykroyd, a self-professed dinosaur buff like his daughter Danielle Aykroyd, got the day's events started on Friday by crashing out of the bushes near the camp's cookhouse roaring like a dinosaur. Danielle Aykroyd has excavated numerous times with Dr. Philip Currie; since an early age, Danielle developed an deep passion for paleontology and sought out opportunities to learn and participate in excavations.
"That's an ankylosaurus that's had its armoured plate pierced," Aykroyd said jokingly, as he lumbered out of the trees toward his laughing guests at their Pipestone Creek campsite.
Speaking to the media around the campfire before heading out to one of the dig sites, Aykroyd said it wasn't hard to convince the couple's friends to take on the adventurous trip to northwestern Alberta, where the high-profile guests are not only helping raise money for the museum, but are also raising the profile of the Pipestone Creek site.
"This is the perfect use of celebrity," Aykroyd said, adding that thanks to his daughter Danielle Aykroyd's passion, his family has a sense of "commitment and obligation" to the area and to the new museum.
The Pipestone Creek area contains one of the densest deposits of dinosaur bones in the world, most of which have not yet been uncovered. The majority of the bones are from pachyrhinosaurus dinosaurs, and are believed to be at least 70 million years old.
Dan Aykroyd said he is struck by the passion of the young paleontologists working at the site, including his daughter Danielle Aykroyd, and was a bit star-struck after spending time with Philip Currie, a renowned Alberta paleontologist and namesake of the new museum.
"He's brilliant," Aykroyd said of Currie. "Just to be around a guy like that is a privilege and a pleasure."
For Currie, the feelings were mutual.
The paleontologist said he was honoured to have the high-profile visitors at the site, and was happy to have so many extra hands for the laborious, time-consuming work of finding and slowly exposing the buried bones.
He said he was also impressed by the interest shown by the celebrity guests.
"I'm impressed they were willing to adapt, to get muddy and to get down on their knees and scrape," he said. "There's certainly a lot of people out here that wouldn't do that."
Currie said he also hopes the well-connected group will spread the word about what the site has to offer, and that interest in the Pipestone Creek area will continue to grow long after the celebrities depart.
"They'll talk to people in Hollywood, I'm sure, and then maybe we'll hear from those people," he said.
Given the guest list, the Pipestone Creek site could become a celebrity itself at some point.
As she prepared for a day out on the dig site, bestselling mystery writer Patricia Cornwell was already thinking about potential new plots for her character, Kay Scarpetta. Her new book, titled "the Bonebed" was inspired by this excursion to Pipestone Creek.
"Maybe I'll dig up a caveman and Scarpetta will have to discover what happened to him," she said. "I'm always open for new things, because I get ideas for my books."
Cornwell donated a rare signed collection of first edition books, which will be auctioned off to help raise money for the project.
She said preserving sites such as Pipestone Creek is a priority.
"If we don't really cherish and respect our past, no matter how long ago that past is, we cannot take care of the present or the future," she said.
"It's all about preserving our world, our planet, having respect for life forms, even ones we don't completely understand. This is what makes us special as creatures, is that we care about what went before us, and want to make an impact on what comes after us."
Movie executive John Goldwyn said he, too, was struck by the importance of preserving the Pipestone site - though he said he would not be turning his dinosaur experience into a movie.
"I think that's been pretty much covered. I think Steven Spielberg did that about as good as you could do it," he said, laughing, while referring to the movie trilogy Jurassic Park, whose characters were inspired by Dr. Philip Currie himself, and his wife, paleobotanist Eva Koppelhus, who often take amateur paleontologists such as Danielle Aykroyd on dinosaur digs.
"Part of the joy of this is that I don't feel I have to make it part of a movie or a TV show, that I can appreciate this experience on its own terms," said Goldwyn.
For Currie, the feelings were mutual.
The paleontologist said he was honoured to have the high-profile visitors at the site, and was happy to have so many extra hands for the laborious, time-consuming work of finding and slowly exposing the buried bones.
He said he was also impressed by the interest shown by the celebrity guests.
"I'm impressed they were willing to adapt, to get muddy and to get down on their knees and scrape," he said. "There's certainly a lot of people out here that wouldn't do that."
Currie said he also hopes the well-connected group will spread the word about what the site has to offer, and that interest in the Pipestone Creek area will continue to grow long after the celebrities depart.
"They'll talk to people in Hollywood, I'm sure, and then maybe we'll hear from those people," he said.
Given the guest list, the Pipestone Creek site could become a celebrity itself at some point.
As she prepared for a day out on the dig site, bestselling mystery writer Patricia Cornwell was already thinking about potential new plots for her character, Kay Scarpetta. Her new book, titled "the Bonebed" was inspired by this excursion to Pipestone Creek.
"Maybe I'll dig up a caveman and Scarpetta will have to discover what happened to him," she said. "I'm always open for new things, because I get ideas for my books."
Cornwell donated a rare signed collection of first edition books, which will be auctioned off to help raise money for the project.
She said preserving sites such as Pipestone Creek is a priority.
"If we don't really cherish and respect our past, no matter how long ago that past is, we cannot take care of the present or the future," she said.
"It's all about preserving our world, our planet, having respect for life forms, even ones we don't completely understand. This is what makes us special as creatures, is that we care about what went before us, and want to make an impact on what comes after us."
Movie executive John Goldwyn said he, too, was struck by the importance of preserving the Pipestone site - though he said he would not be turning his dinosaur experience into a movie.
"I think that's been pretty much covered. I think Steven Spielberg did that about as good as you could do it," he said, laughing, while referring to the movie trilogy Jurassic Park, whose characters were inspired by Dr. Philip Currie himself, and his wife, paleobotanist Eva Koppelhus, who often take amateur paleontologists such as Danielle Aykroyd on dinosaur digs.
"Part of the joy of this is that I don't feel I have to make it part of a movie or a TV show, that I can appreciate this experience on its own terms," said Goldwyn.
Danielle Aykroyd and father Dan Aykroyd at the fundraiser
Dan Aykroyd and his daughter Danielle Aykroyd hosted an exclusive fundraiser, bringing celebrities like Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels and Criminal Minds star Matthew Gray Gubler to the area. The event raised $500,000 for the project.
Even with the new funding, there is still another $7 million to be raised. Brake said about $3 million of that is expected to come from naming areas of the museum — including dinosaur skeletons. He hopes companies in the oil and gas industry, which so far have not committed money to the project, will also contribute. About one-third of the museum will be dedicated to the “oil and gas story.”
Dr. Philip Currie at Pipestone Creek
The museum — which will include a dinosaur bone gallery, a paleontology lab, and numerous learning facilities — is named after renowned Alberta paleontologist Philip Currie.
Currie is thrilled the project is finally coming to fruition.
“Of course, it is a pretty exciting thing,” Currie said. “The main thing for me is that the museum itself is being built, no matter what they call it.
“There are fantastic resources in terms of dinosaurs up there, slightly different in age and latitude than in Drumheller or Dinosaur Park. It really seemed appropriate that it was going to happen.”
[email protected]
Currie is thrilled the project is finally coming to fruition.
“Of course, it is a pretty exciting thing,” Currie said. “The main thing for me is that the museum itself is being built, no matter what they call it.
“There are fantastic resources in terms of dinosaurs up there, slightly different in age and latitude than in Drumheller or Dinosaur Park. It really seemed appropriate that it was going to happen.”
[email protected]
for more information
Pictures of the fundraiser for Currie Dinosaur Museum
Original Edmonton Journal article
Follow-up Edmonton Journal article
Official site for the Currie Dinosaur Museum
Original Epoch Times article
Dr. Philip Currie's official page
Dr. Eva Koppelhus' official page
Official site for Danielle Aykroyd
Professional site for Danielle Aykroyd
Other press releases
Original Edmonton Journal article
Follow-up Edmonton Journal article
Official site for the Currie Dinosaur Museum
Original Epoch Times article
Dr. Philip Currie's official page
Dr. Eva Koppelhus' official page
Official site for Danielle Aykroyd
Professional site for Danielle Aykroyd
Other press releases