AURORA — For 24 years, fossil fans have been making the trek to the small town of Aurora for a fossil-filled weekend.

The three-day Aurora Fossil Festival starts tonight with an opening ceremony, pageant and live music, and while there’s plenty of entertainment lined up for the weekend, it’s the science behind the million-year-old fossils that draws a crowd, according to Cynthia Crane, director of the Aurora Fossil Museum.

“This event is unique. It’s one of the largest of its kind in the U.S. It’s done to bring light to the museum and its mission to educate,” Crane said.

The Aurora Community Center will be packed with displays from fossil clubs and societies, museums and universities, from the Southwest Florida Fossil Society to the Smithsonian Institution, and on Saturday, the Aurora Museum will host a lecture series throughout the day.

“People from all over the United States, and outside the United States, come to the Aurora Fossil Festival. Our guests come from all over the East Coast of North America,” Crane said. “We’re growing it every year, and it seems to be gaining more interest.”

Of particular interest are the lectures: The Cookiecutter Shark, Isistius: The Real Cookie Monster, by University of Florida geologist Victor Perez; Dinosaur Hunters: The Search for Ancient Giants, by Virginia Museum of Natural History Assistant Curator of Paleontology Alexander Hastings; and The Enigmatic Snaggletooth, but Calvert Marine Museum Assistant Curator of Paleontology Donald Morgan III.

Crane said the shark lectures will have particular resonance, as the type of sharks’ teeth often found in the museum’s Fossil Park — pits of fossiliferous material donated by the neighboring phosphate PotashCorp — belong to cookiecutter and snaggletooth sharks.

“It’s really going to show a connection to the science behind the fossils,” Crane said.

Hastings returns to the festival this year with a lecture that will hold wide appeal, she said.

“This year, he’s going to be talking about hunting dinosaurs — it’s a more kid-friendly, family friendly, interactive talk,” Crane said.

Also on the schedule of events are a 5K run, fireworks, fossil vendors, classic car cruise-in, parade and more. Some of the more popular events are a fossil auction, and the drawing of a winning riffle ticket raffle, where the winner walks away with a more than 6-inch-long megalodon tooth, that once belonged to a giant shark that once hunted in eastern North Carolina waters.

“That’s a big fundraiser for the museum,” Crane said of the auction. “All proceeds go to the support of the museum. … The more bids, the merrier.”

While the festival puts the fossil museum on the map, it’s also a boost to the Beaufort County economy.

“Last year, we had 14,000 people. They eat; they buy fuel; they spend the night. It’s a big draw for tourism and to bring people to Beaufort County, and not to mention the speakers, the people in the education tent, the volunteers — they’re also coming here, spending their time celebrating fossils in Aurora,” Crane said. “Local volunteers, fossil people, members of the Friends of the Fossil Museum come down to help clean and set up. They stay in Beaufort County for a week.”

It’s those volunteers who are the key to the festival’s ongoing success, according to Crane.

“If it wasn’t for the volunteers and the people who are willing to come out to help, we wouldn’t be able to grow the festival. It’s a big success because of that,” she said.

Since next year marks the 25^th anniversary of the Aurora Fossil Festival and the 40^th for the museum, the festival will definitely grow between this year and the next, she said.

 

Schedule of Events

FRIDAY

6 p.m.: Opening ceremony and Fossil Pageant

7:30 p.m.–8:30 p.m: Live music by Steel Shot

8:30 p.m.–10:30 p.m.: Live music by Bryan Mayer

 

SATURDAY

All day activities include craft, food and fossil vendors, games, fossil hunting, fossil/mineral displays and fossil identification, Civil War encampment, lawn mower pulls and car cruise-in.

8 a.m.: 5K Fossil Run

9 a.m.: Veteran’s breakfast, festival activities open

10 a.m.: Paleontology lecture, Museum Learning Center

11 a.m.: Parade on Main Street

Noon–1 p.m.: Main Stage, Ronald McDonald

12:15 p.m.: Paleontology lecture, Museum Learning Center

1 p.m.–2 p.m.: Motorcycle drill team / live music by Skyline (K-OS)

1 p.m.–5 p.m.: Activities in the Children’s Tent

1:45 p.m.: Paleontology lecture, Museum Learning Center

2:30 p.m.–4:30 p.m.: Live music by Back Door Hippies

3 p.m.: Live Fossil Auction, Museum Learning Center

5 p.m.–6:30 p.m.: Live music by Opry Country Band

7 p.m.–10:30 p.m.: Live music by Billy Holton & the Soul Shakers

9:15 p.m.–9:45 p.m.: Fireworks

 

SUNDAY

10 a.m.–2 p.m.: Church service