TULSA, Okla. –
The first pieces of what will be a 66-foot-tall dinosaur arrived in Tulsa, filling up much of a small warehouse in West Tulsa, near where the statue will be erected in Howard Park.
The Oklahoma Route 66 Commission is supporting the project with a $225,000 grant, and private fundraising is underway to build out the trails in the park.
The statue will have a fiberglass skin and a metal skeleton. The steel work will start within weeks, according to David Oliver, who hatched the idea more than two years ago.
He and Teresa Flusche, the Executive Director of Route 66 Main Street, watched as the first seven of what’s expected to be 50 pieces arrived in Tulsa. The statue is being manufactured in St. Louis.
The dinosaur will be a replica of a brontosaurus, will be painted seafoam green.
“We wanted it to stand out,” said Flusche, noting the still-unnamed dinosaur will be just 12 feet shorter than the Golden Driller, but 1 foot taller than the next largest dinosaur statue along Route 66.