Yorkshire Fossil Festival 2023

What did you miss? Don’t panic! There’s plenty more to come!

If you missed – or perhaps you’re just missing – the 2023 Yorkshire Fossil Festival in Whitby, what can you do to bring the fossil-feelgood-factor back before our next festival? Here are some ideas:

Come back to Whitby Museum! Celebrating its bicentenary this year, the wonderful Whitby Museum is open from 10am to 4.30pm every Tuesday to Sunday. The new ammonite display is amm-azing, as is pretty much everything else inside.

Visit the Rotunda! Go to the Rotunda Museum of Geology and Coastal Heritage in Scarborough. It’s a gem of geological history, and there’s a summer of fossil activities lined up. Make your own Permian coral wreath, for goodness sake!

Get ready for Mary! She never visited Yorkshire during her lifetime, but on July 14th, Mary Anning will come to the Yorkshire Museum. It’s a perfect palaeontological mash-up of England’s Jurassic coasts, which I’m calling Mary Anning Rocks Yorkshire’s Jurassic World (hashtag #MaryJW). Check out the programme of talks, walks and family activities here.

Rejoin the circus! The Rock Showman and his Let’s Circus team will be in action across the country across the summer, spreading joy and juggling wherever they go. Find out when and where they’re on tour here.

Go to the DinoFest! It may be on the other side of the Pennines, but the 2023 Dino Fest in Lancaster will have plenty of Yorkshire fossil flavour, including some from our friends at Fossils in t’Hills.

Book onto a fossil hunt! Now you’ve caught the bug, you’ll want to find the fossils. One of the best ways to do this is on a trip led by a member of Yorkshire Coast Rocks. From Redcar down to Filey, our expert leaders will show you how to find fossils safely, responsibly, and enjoyably.

Love exploring! If you’re in Whitby, climb the 199 steps up to the abbey and imagine each step is a million years of time. That way, you’ll make your way from the early Jurassic of Redcar (199 million years ago) right up to the present day. And if you’ve downloaded the free Love Exploring app, and switched on the interactive Yorkshire Fossil Festival game, there’s an animated ammonite outside the abbey visitor centre!

Go to Redcar! I will write about it properly soon, but a fab, free exhibition called “Lemon Tops and Lobster Pots” is taking over the pavilion at Kirkleatham Museum in Redcar this summer, and devil’s toenails will be a star of the show.

Practice your palaeo-ke! Last but not least, if you didn’t get to singalong to “I Will Survive (Ode to a Fossil)” at our Night At The Museum, or if you just want to do it again, the video can be found here. Keep your vocal cords warmed up. At next year’s Festival, it might be Bohemian Rhabdosome*.

*I’m not kidding. Most of the lyrics are already written.