Hello all,
It is hard to believe it is summertime already! I sat in a local diner with my family this evening and watched the busses go by, only realizing today that school finished for many. And tomorrow we’ll be having the NC Fossil Festival, which I hope most folks can make it to! I regretfully will be missing this year’s festival, as I have a special opportunity to visit some interesting South Carolina sites right across the border.
There are still a lot of nice, small opportunities for outreach in the state, so please feel free to help out if you can! This year has been quite busy with requests, and it is my hope that someone may be inspired to pursue paleontology on some level through our efforts, whether that is simple hobby collecting or perhaps even as a profession.
I hope everyone takes care, and I hope those who make it to Aurora have a good time!
-Tony
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Completed Outreach Reported Since March:
3/9/2026 - Ramona Krailler - Root Elementary School - Raleigh
Gave mold and cast class for ESL students. (~40 present)
3/10/2026 - Terry Denny, Julie Passamonti - Woods Creek Elementary - Holly Springs
Gave talk and lessons to 4th graders on paleontology, fossil formation and local geology. (~38 present)
3/11/2026 - Ramona Krailler - Bonlee Elementary School - Raleigh
Gave mold and cast class for ESL students. (~60 present)
3/13/2026 - Ramona Krailler, Will Krailler - Ridgewood Elementary School - Greenville
Provided fossil games and displayed Greenville Fossils as well as UV reactive fossils. (~400 present)
3/14/2026 - Charlie Causey, Pam Causey - Aldersgate United Methodist Church - Durham
Gave talk on paleontology and displayed fossils for a “Science Saturday”; event. (~120 present)
4/11/2026 - Don Clements, John DuBois, Dominique Joos de ter Beerst - Cowan Museum - Kenansville
Provided displays for the museum’s 2026 Eco Blast. (~100 present)
4/22/2026 - Charlie Causey, Pam Causey - Apex Friendship Middle School - Apex
STEAM night for students. (~250 present)
4/23/2026 - Ramona Krailler, Will Krailler, Trish Kohler - New Hope Elementary - Chapel Hill
Provided fossils for a STEAM night, including UV reactive fossils and coprolite display. (~50 present)
4/26/2026 - Cheryl Gourley - Regency at Olde Towne - Raleigh
Gave presentation on NC paleontology and fossils. (~15 present)
5/6/2026 - Ramona Krailler - Root Elementary School - Raleigh
Provided Megalodon Displays and interactive fossil hunt within Ordovician limestone slabs. (~35 present)
Approximate Total People Reported Reached Since The March Meeting: ~1108
Thank you to all our outreach participants!
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Current Future Outreach Opportunities:
5/23 - Aurora Fossil Museum / Aurora Community Center - Aurora
(Current volunteers: NCFC)
The NC Fossil Festival at Aurora, NCFC is doing fossil displays once again this year. Come join in on the fun! Contact Don Rideout at fossildon60@gmail.com; for more info on participating. Please note there is an online registration that needs to be filled out if volunteering. (~1500 visitors in 2025)
6/23, 7/14 or 8/4 - Blue Jay Park - Raleigh
(Current Volunteers: Cheryl Gourley(?))
The A.E. FINLEY YMCA is looking for a NCFC volunteer to come by and provide a fossil display and short presentation suitable for children for a summer camp at the Blue Jay Park of Raleigh. They are looking to have a volunteer come out on either Tuesday June 23, Friday July 14, or Tuesday August 4, with no determined time yet. They are expecting around 40-50 kids to attend, between the ages of ages 5-13.
9/12 - Cabarrus Brewing Company - Concord
(Current volunteers: Tony Shaver, Julie Niederkorn)
The Rice family is putting together a free Dinosaur / Fossil Day community event and are looking for anyone interested in displaying their fossils and talking to the local kids about fossils and paleontology. Full details are not yet finalized. Their events are usually well attended by the local community (~200 in 2025, ~3000 in 2024), so it should be a fun opportunity to reach folks in a western community!
If you are interested in this particular outreach, please contact Tony ASAP before 5/20/2026.
11/7 - Catawba Science Center - Hickory, NC - NCFC Fossil Fair
Our annual Fossil Fair has a date and location! Please stay tuned for more information at future meetings!
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Summer Library Outreaches
The NCFC has recently received a number of outreach opportunities from many different community libraries within the state, centered around this year’s “Unearth a Story” summer program. These are all wonderful opportunities to reach small groups of folks with a relatively simple format, many of which are in areas that are not frequently visited. Each opportunity varies in composition, so be sure to read the description for each one and feel free to reach out if you are interested and have any questions. Any help that can be provided will be greatly appreciated by both the NCFC and these communities!
Any members interested in any of these Outreach opportunities, please contact Tony Shaver at outreach@ncfossilclub.org
Forsyth County Central Public Library
660 W 5th St
Winston-Salem, NC 27101
Forsyth County Central Public Library is looking for a NCFC volunteer to come by and provide an educational display of local NC fossils along with a “fossil petting zoo” for local children and their families. They are especially interested in the hands-on aspect of a display, so a touch table or tabletop dig would be very appreciated! They are looking for someone who can come by on July 13th at 2PM. They are anticipating a crowd of no greater than 100 folks.
Watauga County Library
140 Queen St
Boone, NC 28607
AND
Western Watauga County Library
1085 Old US Hwy 421
Sugar Grove, NC 28679
Watauga County Library and potentially their Western Watauga Branch Library are looking for a NCFC volunteer to come by and provide a short presentation and educational display of fossils or a fossil “storytime” for local children and their families. They are especially interested in dinosaur fossils and dinosaur-aged fossils, though any fossils would be appreciated! They are interested in someone who can come by on the week of June 8th to kickstart the summer program, but they are flexible on dates and times for the month of June if there is difficulty with availability. Their typical storytime is on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays at 11AM, and their programs start at 1PM. They are anticipating a crowd of around 30 kids plus potential family.
Durham County Library - South Regional Library
4505 S Alston Ave
Durham, NC 27713
( Current volunteers: Joy Herrington)
Durham County’s South Regional Library is looking for a NCFC volunteer to come by and provide an hour-long presentation focused on local paleontology followed by a short Q&A session for older teens and young adults. While not mentioned directly, a display of local fossils would likely be very helpful for this request. They are looking for someone who can come by between June 15th and August 8th, and have said Saturdays work best though they are also open to Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday evenings; exact times are not yet known. They specifically mentioned July 18th, July 25th and August 8th as preferred Saturdays, but the date is very flexible within the range provided. They are anticipating a crowd of no greater than 55-60 folks.
Pasquotank County Library
100 E Colonial Ave
Elizabeth City, NC 27909
Pasquotank County Library is looking for a NCFC volunteer to come by and provide a short presentation, display and hands-on activity focused on local fossils for a group of K-5 students. Any sort of activity (touch table, tabletop fossil dig, ect) would likely be of interest! They are looking for someone who can come by on Friday, August 7th from 10:30AM to 12PM, but there could be potential flexibility for an alternative Friday between mid-July and late-August. Exact anticipated crowd size is unknown, but it is unlikely to be a very large group.
Lee County Library
1740 Bragg Street
Sanford, NC 27330
(Current volunteers: Tony Shaver, Julie Niederkorn, Ian Edgerly, Diane Edgerly and David Edgerly)
Lee County Library is looking for NCFC volunteers to come by and provide fossil displays and hands-on activities (touch tables, tabletop fossil digs, ect) to go alongside paleontological-related activities provided by the library for local children and their families. It could be very fun to have at least a couple of different tables provided by the club! The event will be on June 30th from 4PM to 6PM, and will be located at their new facility that has opened. Last year a program at the library brought in around 30 or so visitors, so it should be something comparable or slightly larger this year.
New Bern-Craven County Public Library
400 Johnson Street
New Bern, NC 28560
The New Bern-Craven County Public Library is looking for a NCFC volunteer to come by and provide an educational display of local NC fossils along with a short presentation on North Carolina paleontology. This request is part of the “Unearth a Story” summer program, and while dinosaurs are a popular request any local fossil display would likely be very appreciated. They are looking for someone who can come by on a Monday or Wednesday evening in the month of June and July, start time TBD. They are anticipating a crowd of around 10-40 folks, likely on the higher end given the topic.
Durham County Library - East Regional Library
211 Lick Creek Ln
Durham, NC 27703
(Current Volunteers: Trish Kohler(?))
The East Regional Library of Durham is looking for a NCFC volunteer to come by and provide a fossil display and short presentation suitable for children for a summer reading program at the library. They are looking to have a volunteer come out on Friday, July 10th starting around 4PM, with no finalized duration yet. They are expecting around 25 participants, which includes local children and their parents / guardians.
Graham Recreation Center
311 College St
Graham, NC 27253
The Alamance County Libraries System is looking for a NCFC volunteer to come by and provide a fossil display suitable for children and their parents for their Summer Reading Kickoff program. The event is on Saturday, June 6, from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM. They are expecting upwards of several hundred participants, so it could be a good way to get some folks interested in paleontology!
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Roseboro Public Library
300 W Roseboro St.
Roseboro, NC
The Roseboro Public Library is looking for a NCFC volunteer to come by and provide a fossil display suitable for children and their parents for their “Unearth a Story” summer program. While not requested, a “hands-on” display might be a good additional component to include! The event is on Saturday, June 13, from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM. They are uncertain on crowd size, but based on a prior event they estimate it could be around 120 or so attendees.
Thomasville Public Library
14 Randolph St.
Thomasville, NC 27360
The Thomasville Public Library is looking for a NCFC volunteer to come by and provide an educational display of local NC fossils along with a short presentation on North Carolina paleontology for their “Unearth a Story” summer program. They specifically mentioned interest in the sort of program Coleman Davis wonderfully provided for the Perry Memorial Library on behalf of the NCFC in 2024, so I imagine hands-on displays and a “touch table” would be greatly appreciated! They are looking for someone who can come by on Tuesday, June 9th or Tuesday, June 23rd, both at 6PM, or on a number of Mondays which are June 15th, June 22nd, July 6th, July 13th, July 20th, and August 3rd . They are uncertain on crowd size, but based on estimated averages and the 2024 outreach mentioned one could expect a crowd size of no more than 60 or so folks.
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Durham County North Regional Library
221 Milton Rd
Durham, NC 27712
(Current Volunteers: Trish Kohler(?))
The Durham County North Regional Library is looking for an NCFC volunteer to assist with their “Unearth a Story” event this summer by providing outreach on paleontology. They have two series of possible dates and formats in mind:
● Thursday, June 25, 2026 ; Thursday, July 16, 2026 ; Thursday, July 23, 2026, Thursday, July 30, 2026, at 10 AM - 11 AM. Age range would be K-5th grade and their families. Participants should be 50 at the most. This outreach type would be a short presentation for kids followed by a touch table and lots of curious questions.
● Saturday, June 13, 2026, from 10-12 PM. Summer Reading Kick-Off event, with 200+ families. This event is self-guided, a display, touch table or both would be the ideal
North Asheville Public Library
1030 Merrimon Ave
Asheville, NC 28804
The North Asheville Public Library is looking for a NCFC volunteer to come by and provide a fossil display suitable for children of the 3-10 age range to go alongside their dinosaur arts & crafts activity for the “Unearth a Story” summer program. They are looking at the afternoon of Saturday July 18th, or on the afternoons of Saturday August 1st, Saturday August 15th and Saturday August 22nd, though they are also flexible on weekdays as well if that works better for anyone interested. They anticipate somewhere around 20 or so kids. It could be a good way to get some folks interested in paleontology in the western half of the state!