“Hull’s answer to Jurassic Park” is making a roaring return in August. The family-friendly Dino Day will bring a parade of prehistoric favourites to the city centre including a ‘roar-some’ array of free dinosaur-themed activities.
It will include a raptor, parasaurolophus and dilophosaurus wandering around Queen Victoria Square and King Edward Street, along with face painting, a colouring competition with dinosaur prizes, and a dino detective trail with the challenge of tracking down pictures in shops and other businesses in the city centre. The event, which takes place between 11am and 3pm on Friday, August 8, is being supported by a number of local businesses and other organisations including headline sponsor KCOM, while the Hull KR Foundation will be displaying the Challenge Cup with a selection of stalls and rides adding to the fun.
Neil Bartholomew, KCOM consumer managing director, said: “We love supporting fantastic community events like this and turning the city centre into Hull’s answer to Jurassic Park once again, keeping the kids entertained during the summer holidays, is a great idea by HullBID. I’m sure the day will be a dino-mite success and I hope everyone attending has a roar-some time!”
Meanwhile, Dino Day will provide plenty of opportunities to snap images for HullBID’s ‘Picture Hull’ challenge, with participants able to submit their shots of crowd-pulling events and day-to-day life in the city centre until Sunday, August 31.
Dino Day has proven a big draw since it was introduced by HullBID in 2021 and will feature several new ideas in its fifth year with activities taking place from 11am until 3pm. Kathryn Shillito, HullBID executive director, said: “Dino Day was a phenomenal success from the start and it was an easy decision to bring it back for a fifth year. It’s fun and a bit frightening and people love that!
“In addition to some truly terrifying creatures parading round the streets of the city centre we’ve got all sorts of fun games and competitions. Almost everything is free, with some modest charges for some of the stalls and rides.
“We’re really grateful to KCOM as headline sponsor and to all the businesses which are taking part this year. We’ve got a bigger turnout than ever and that’s important because HullBID’s events are all about attracting people into the city centre to support our local businesses, and this shows we’re making an impact.
“At the same time we’re working hard to keep Dino Day fresh and innovative so this year we’ll be introducing the Dino Detectives trail to encourage people to explore businesses in their search for clues, helped by the virtual dino park which can be viewed on smartphones.”
(Image: submitted)
Regular exhibitors making a return to Dino Day include Forbidden Planet, Dinsdales joke shop, Lost City Golf, Superbowl UK and the Dinostar museum. Steve Plater, owner of Dinostar in Humber Street, will be setting up a mini-museum display in Queen Victoria Square with exhibits including a genuine Triceratops leg bone along with dinosaur teeth, claws, and even an egg.
Visitors will be welcome to touch the exhibits and experience handling dinosaur fossils that are around 100 million years old. Steve said: “Dino Day is a wonderful, family-friendly event that has now become a major part of the city’s summer calendar. Hundreds of people have visited our mini-museum and many have gone on to visit our Dinosaur Experience on Humber Street.
“Other businesses in the city centre benefit in the same way because families often make it a full dinosaur day – businesses in the city centre get a boost in footfall from the crowds that dinosaurs attract.”
For more information on Dino Day 2025, visit the website