Museum’s economic impact to be studied

The Greybull Town Council on Monday voted to commit funding to a study of the economic impact of a proposed 3,500 square foot Big Horn Basin Dinosaur and Geoscience Museum.

The study will be conducted by the Center for Business and Economic Analysis (CBEA) at the University of Wyoming, which supports the economic growth and diversification of the state’s economy through applied economic and business analytics.

The study will cost $20,000, but CBEA has secured a $10,000 U.S. Economic Development Agency grant for the work. The town council and the museum board agreed to a 50/50 split of the remaining $10,000.

A 501(c)3 not-for-profit entity, the museum’s mission is to obtain and house museum-quality casts of some of the world’s most iconic dinosaurs and marine reptiles that have been found in Big Horn County.

Progress has been swift on that front.  In December, the museum announced that it was acquiring a cast of “Baby Toni,” the only fully-articulated, 95% complete in terms of bone count, baby sauropod known to science.

At the time, the museum said in a release that it “has on order, or in its possession, casts of 24 extremely rare allosaur eggs, which will be part of a reconstructed allosaur nest found between Greybull and Shell, as well as casts of a juvenile allosaur (Al Junior), and the most complete adult allosaur (Big Al 2) ever discovered.”

Bill Hayes and Erik Kvale attended Monday’s meeting of the town council.  Hayes said the study would commence as soon as the town approves the funding package and that he expects it to be done by the end of April, based on the timeline provided by CBEA.

According to the CBEA proposal, the analysis will include the impact of capital expenditures in constructing the BHBDGM facility, operating expenditures associated with the BHBDGM and forecasted visitation to Big Horn County and the Town of Greybull due to the BHBDGM.

Hayes told the council that the Buffalo Bill Center of the West sees about 165,000 paid visits annually, not counting memberships.  About 20% of those visitors, roughly 33,000, arrive on busses bound for or leaving Yellowstone National Park.

If a dinosaur museum in Greybull was promoted to the right people — i.e., the companies booking bus tours — that alone could bring result in 5,000 to 10,000 people stopping at the museum and spending money in Greybull businesses.

Councilman Gerald Crist, who also serves on the board of the Greybull Museum, called the study a “make or break” moment. Depending on where the numbers come in, it will either make it far easier for the town to obtain grant funding or make it reconsider if it’s a good idea.   

“It’s going to be based on a lot of data and it will give us some credibility,” Crist said.

Mayor Myles Foley said the town will take the $5,000 out of funding it earmarked for economic development.