The Goleta Sanitary District (GSD) held its Jurassic Plant Tour Open House on September 23, 2017 to the delight of 1100+ visitors. Guests arrived through a gate built in front of the District’s regular entrance designed to look like the ominous gates welcoming visitors to Jurassic Park from the film of 25 years ago.
The Goleta Sanitary District is not known for dinosaurs of course, but for its collection and treatment of wastewater. In fact, most people do not think about what happens once they flush water away from their home. But the story of water on Earth is as fascinating as the story of the dinosaurs. The Jurassic Plant Tour Open House was an attempt to engage and entertain visitors about that water-the same water that’s been on Earth since the before the time of the dinosaurs.
The biennial Open House event has taken place at the District since 1951, but last year was the first time that it featured the dinosaur theme. General Manager Steve Wagner explained, “We were brainstorming ideas for the theme and someone thought of dinosaurs. We knew we had a hit on our hands as children and adults alike have been mesmerized by the story of dinosaurs and by the Jurassic Park film series.” He went on to elaborate, “connecting the concept of dinosaurs and One Water was our goal: encouraging guests to see how the District treats wastewater replicating natural processes, and how the water cycle recycles all of the water on Earth over and over again to give them a better understanding of the impact they make, and how they can help protect the environment for the ancestors of the dinosaurs and all creatures.” According to Washington State University’s science education project Ask Dr. Universe, “The water in your glass may be the same water dinosaurs drank, but it’s also the same water that’s going to keep life on our planet in the years to come.” (
www.askdruniverse.wsu.edu/2016/04/10/drink-water-dinosaur-days/)
In addition to learning about the water cycle, visitors enjoyed free lunch, themed to match the event, either Dino Dogs or Paleo Pizza, visited educational stations, made water cycle bracelets, took a walking tour of the plant, played in the dinosaur-themed bounce houses, or took the Adventure Tour, featuring an escaped T-Rex. At the education stations participants collected stamps, which when completed entitled them to be entered in a prize drawing. This incentivized the learning and made it more fun. The theme took shape through various vignettes constructed to immerse visitors in the water resource recovery facility overrun by dinosaurs and an escaped T-Rex. On the Adventure Tour visitors passed swimming brachiosaurs (in settling basins), a triceratops munching on some grass, a nest of dinosaur eggs, a breeched containment area, an overturned jeep, large piles of Dino Doo, created from biosolids, (available free of charge to guests), an aviary (chemical storage facility) filled with pteranodons, and more. The project required all staff members to participate and encouraged all departments to decorate their information stations with themed décor. The artistic talents of many of the staff were impressive! The event appealed to all ages and was focused on whole-household participation.
The District partnered with the local Audubon Society to help tie the dinosaur theme to modern day birds of prey, and to demonstrate the variety and richness of birds found on the water resource recovery facility grounds. The Audubon Society held a photo contest, displayed pictures of the winning entrants at their booth, and had demonstrations with live birds of prey, the modern day ancestors of dinosaurs.
The District was able to offset expenses for the event by reaching out to vendors to sponsor items including the lunch for visitors, the attractions including the bounce houses, and the educational souvenir goodie bags handed out to all parties. The budget was set at $27,500, the District raised over $10,000 and spent just under the budget, with a net cost of $17,300.
The Goleta Sanitary District also captured important information from its visitors, collecting data at a check-in station and conducting surveys at the end of their visits. The results indicated that about 75% of the visitors were first-timers. The District was also able to establish that survey respondents learned quite a bit about the activities of the District too: most doubled their knowledge between the time they entered the facility and the time they took the survey. Guests also remarked that they enjoyed interacting with staff and learning directly from them. All members of the Goleta Sanitary District’s 35 staff and five Board members, as well as 15 community volunteers were involved in the event, which included the planning, design, booth staffing, and parking.
Goleta Sanitary District will repeat the Jurassic Plant Tour theme next year and is looking forward to welcoming even more visitors. The date will likely be in September or October 2019. “The challenge for next year,” says General Manager Wagner “is to make it even better than last year. We hope to add some new scenes in the Adventure Tour, and who knows, they may have perfected cloning by then and we’ll have some live dinosaurs at the event!”
The District believes event like the Jurassic Plant Tour Open House are wonderful opportunities to meet the citizens they serve and to transform them into advocates for the work they do. As recently as last month, staff reported that local residents visiting the GSD booth at the Goleta Lemon Festival shared their experience at the Open House and asked when the next one will take place. Management Analyst and Open House Event Coordinator Laura Romano said, “We think next year will have even larger attendance than 2017. Now we just need to figure out where to park them all!”
For more information about the Jurassic Plant Tour event contact Laura Romano, Management Analyst at
lromano@goletasanitary.org or call 805-967-4519.