A 16-Foot Tall Dinosaur Model Finds a Permanent Home on Station Parkway in Leonia
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Leonia NJ, good news for dino fans in Bergen County! While Field Station: Dinosaurs prepares to close its gates for the final time this month, its longtime host town, Leonia, NJ, is getting an unforgettable piece of the action.
The owner of the popular Overpeck County Park attraction has agreed to donate one of its towering, life-sized dinosaur models to the borough. A massive 16-foot tall, 26-foot long T-Rex is set to be installed along Station Parkway in mid-November.
“Leonia has been our home for a decade and we’re happy that our friends and neighbors will have this amazing T-Rex to remember us by,” said Guy Gsell, the park’s executive producer.
The Story Behind the Dino Donation
The donation came about after Field Station: Dinosaurs, which moved to Leonia from Secaucus in 2016, announced its closure this season. When many of the animatronic models (including two T-Rexes for $2,700 each) were listed for sale online, Leonia Mayor Bill Ziegler reached out to Gsell to inquire about a donation.
Although most of the nearly three dozen dinosaurs were sold to an institutional buyer, Gsell agreed to give one T-Rex model to the borough as a thank you for a decade of community support.
Mayor Ziegler expressed excitement about the unique new landmark: “We are incredibly excited about it… Where else can you visit great parks, stroll through a charming downtown, grab a coffee and see a T-Rex? Only in Leonia.”
The T-Rex’s New Bergen County Home
The large, 6-foot wide model will be installed on Station Parkway, directly opposite the bottom of Maple Street.
- Installation: Scheduled for mid-November.
- Move Details: The model will be disassembled for the move, with the Leonia Police Department providing an escort as it crosses Fort Lee Road.
- The Model: While it won’t be animatronic (due to no electricity at the site), the static model will be protected by a small fence and regularly maintained by the same worker who cared for the park’s exhibit.
In a lighthearted jab at local traffic headaches, Mayor Ziegler joked, “We promise the T-Rex will be friendly, but we hope it will scare away George Washington Bridge traffic.”
The final day for the Field Station: Dinosaurs exhibit will be November 9th.
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