Dinosaur at "Discover the Dinosaurs" event. Image courtesy of VSTAR Entertainment Group, the event producer.

Travel back in time 65 million years at “Discover the Dinosaurs” event at the Knoxville Convention Center on Saturday and Sunday, April 2-3.

This is an interactive exhibition and an educational family outing featuring 40 museum-quality and animatronic dinosaur replicas.

“Every year at the Convention Center, thousands of kids attend ‘Discover the Dinosaurs’ with their families to learn and have fun,” General Manager Mary Bogert said. “The exhibition features hands-on attractions and lifelike animatronic replicas that move and roar. Kids feel like they are getting up close to living dinosaurs, and parents like that their children are learning about fossils and the prehistoric era.”

The exhibit allows visitors to get close and even touch the replicas. The backdrops are custom-designed to reflect the landscapes of the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods.

Several of the dinosaurs are controlled with interactive animatronic buttons that allow children to control the dinosaur’s movements and sounds. The non-moving dinosaurs are able to be touched. The dinosaur replicas are proportionally sized to scale.

The event also features activities, such as Dino Dig, where children pretend to be archeologists hunting for fossils in sand; Dino Den, where young guests climb and interact with dinosaurs their size; Dino Theater, where educational and entertaining videos are shown; coloring station; mini-golf; inflatables; scavenger hunt with clues hidden throughout the exhibit; and Tyrannosaurus rex and Triceratops rides. Additional activities such as gem and fossil mining and face painting are available for an additional charge.

The exhibit is open Saturday, April 2, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sunday, April 3, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Tickets are $22 for children, age 2-12; $18 for 13 and up and adults; and $15 for seniors. Children under the age 2 may enjoy the exhibit for free. Tickets can be purchased in advance online at www.discoverthedinosaurs.com or at the Convention Center box office the day of the event.