Twenty years ago, Dom Bianco sat in a classroom at Bethel Park High School carefully drawing the blueprints of a miniature museum for dinosaurs — a long-time dream.
“I have loved dinosaurs since I was a little kid,” Bianco said.
Now, his idea of creating an exhibit for the extinct reptiles has come to fruition.
As of Oct. 5, the Bethel Park resident and creator/publisher of Jurassic Mag transformed fairground building number eight in South Park into a portal to prehistoric times.
The small-scale museum offers knowledge about the age of dinosaurs while simultaneously tying in pop culture references to “Jurassic Park” and “Jurassic World.”
Every inch of the warehouse-like building is covered with dinosaur paraphernalia of all different shapes and sizes.
“I’ve always said that I wanted this space to be a supplementary space for people who want to go to a museum, or even — it sounds funny but — a little retreat, a vacation away from normal life,” Bianco said.
He wants people to feel like they can get out of the house and see something they do not normally see.
Jan Denson visited the exhibit after hearing about it from her son Corey, who graduated high school with Bianco.
To her, it was incomparable to a larger-scale museum because it was more personable.
“We live in a time and a place where not everything is all good,” said Denson, who brought her two grandchildren to the exhibit. “This is a good experience for them.”
Bianco has been curating the collection in the Jurassic Alcove since he was 6 or 7 years old — from the fossils to the National Geographic magazines, to the PlayStation consoles with the original “Jurassic Park” games.
“They all have different origin stories,” he said.
Bianco remembered being in awe of dinosaurs after a visit to the museum. Combine this trip with the release of “Jurassic Park,” and that sparked years of dinosaur-inspired presents gifted by family members.
A pillar of the Jurassic Alcove — the first line of the Carnegie Collection, a set of dinosaur replicas based on fossils at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History — was given to him by his grandmother.
The collection sits at the top of a bookcase for Bianco’s attendees to view. A picture of his grandmother is hung up near the collection in her memory.
Beginning with a tour given by Bianco, the museum is interactive. He makes sure to engage the kids while educating them by asking what their favorite dinosaur is or having them locate hidden gems to win a small prize from the gift shop.
Beyond the tour, guests can indulge in four different STEM-related activities, or dust off faux fossils in a sand pit.
When creating the space, Bianco did not want it to feel too much like “Jurassic Park” or “Jurassic World” and lack historical elements — instead, he incorporated both, which sparks people’s interest.
“It gives us an opportunity for people like myself or paleontologists to say, ‘This is neat, but this is the way they actually behave,’’’ Bianco said.
Bianco’s neighbor Mahsul Yasa Yu came to support him and check out the exhibit. She knew the fairground buildings were small, so she did not know what to anticipate upon arrival.
“It’s very impressive,” Yasa Yu said. “It’s better than I expected.”
She brought along her friends and their children and was glad the kids got to experience learning in a fun way.
Yasa Yu was pleased that the Jurassic Alcove was not only local and accessible, but everyone was able to connect with the brains behind the creation — Bianco.
“Everyone has certain interests, and they spend time on those,” Yasa Yu said. “It’s amazing that he turned that interest and knowledge into something that is for public good.”
For Bianco, this aspect is an honor to him.
“(Attendees) are able to come to a space for half an hour to see dinosaurs and have a reprieve from the normal day in, day out stuff and enjoy their life a little more — that’s what keeps me going,” Bianco said.
Tickets are $5 per person. For more information, visit facebook.com/p/The-Jurassic-Alcove-61559322074958/