The Marathon County Public Library has seen a ton of growth in events and attendance at those events, as the library welcomes a new dinosaur fossil.
Library Director Leah Giordano says the number of events the library hosted more than doubled between 2022 and 2023. While the library hosted 434 events in 2022, that number grew to 931 in 2023.
A more surprising number came from attendance of those events, which grew from roughly 8,400 in 2022 to 18,925 attendees in 2023. “I think that’s kind of amazing, that 10,000 more people came to the library in 2023,” Giordano told the county’s Extension, Education and Economic Development Committee. “That shows we’re coming back to normal levels.”
The news comes as last Thursday the library received the triceratops fossil from the shuttered Colossal Fossils. Giordano says the fossil was so large it had to come in through the loading dock, and through the book sale going on there. Patrons largely seemed delighted at seeing the dinosaur make its way through the books.
“We have a new employee: it’s a triceratops,” Giordano says. “I think we’re going to light it from below so that when you drive down First Street you think there is a dinosaur in the library… because there is.”
