By Chelsea Meyer
B103 Rockford
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ROCKFORD — For 24 years, scientists from around the world and visitors of all ages have been brought together to learn about all things paleontology for an entire weekend in Rockford.

PaleoFest, which grew from two to three speakers in 1999 to 17 this year, takes place this Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Burpee Museum of Natural History, 737 N. Main St.

“What’s cool about PaleoFest is Rockford, Illinois, is pretty much the center of the paleontology world this week and every year,” Josh Matthews, director of paleontology for Burpee, said on the B103 Morning Routine. “To the point where we go to scientific conferences typically every year, not so much now because of COVID, but when we go to these conferences we have paleontologists coming to us, wanting to be invited to PaleoFest.”

Speakers this weekend range from visiting scientists to Ph.D candidates coming here from all over the world.

“Burpee is known worldwide for their paleontology and dinosaurs so we’ve brought people from Egypt, Madagascar, South America, Australia, all over the world, to little ole Burpee Museum to see what we’re doing here,” Matthews said.

PaleoFest will offer activities around the entire museum geared for this weekend, including a passport kids can get stamped at each different station.

“There are classes that you can also take. We have a paleo art class, which is really exciting because it’s combining art and science, trying to recreate a world that we have actually never seen through art, which is beautiful,” said Anne Weerda, executive director of Burpee.

Also, for any kid that thinks dinosaurs are cool, on Friday morning there is a student symposium for children ages k-12. The symposium is free and will be streamed on YouTube Live. Burpee Museum will be broadcasting live with five different scientists answering kids in classrooms.

Get more info on PaleoFest HERE.

Listen to the full interview from the B103 Morning Routine below: