Time-travelling dinosaur saying farewell to RSM

A visitor favourite will be going extinct at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum in Regina.

Megamunch, the half-sized robotic tyrannosaurus rex who greets visitors with a mighty roar, will be retired in February.

Yes, it’s true. Megamunch is retiring.

It has been 37 years since Megamunch arrived at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum on May 16, 1986. Almost immediately, he started the Megamunch Club, which was hugely popular with kids for almost two decades. (1/6) pic.twitter.com/zZC2EPyjrX

— Royal Sask Museum (@royalsaskmuseum) December 20, 2023

“For 37 wonderful years, Megamunch has called the Royal Saskatchewan Museum home,” Parks, Culture and Sport Minister Laura Ross said in a news release.

“Megamunch has been an excellent ambassador for the Museum and will be getting a well-deserved rest. We will all miss that iconic roar and seeing the smiles and amazement on the children’s faces after visiting Megamunch.”

“I know our staff and our visitors will really miss him. He’s certainly a mainstay for our visitors for so long. He’s very loved by a lot of people and I think it’s going to be sad for a lot of people,” Brie Hnetka, the RSM’s executive director, told 980 CJME’s Britton Gray on Wednesday afternoon.

Megamunch first arrived at the museum on May 16, 1986, and has seen quite a few things during his time in Regina.

In February of 1990, he witnessed a fire at the museum, In 1997, he was a greeter and baggage handler at the Regina airport during the construction of the Life Sciences Gallery at the museum. In 2007, he celebrated the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ Grey Cup victory. And in 2019, he welcomed Scotty — the world’s largest T.rex — to the museum.

Hnetka grew up in Regina and has her own memories involving Megamunch.

“As a child, we came and saw Megamunch. For me, Megamunch was scary although I still wanted to see him. I do have fond memories of Megamunch as well, just like everyone else who has come to see him over the years,” Hnetka said.

“People that were around in the ’80s to see Megamunch, they now are bringing back their children to see Megamunch so they can experience that memory as well.”

But things haven’t always been smooth for the dino, with issues propping up that have affected him in a variety of ways. That includes skin repairs he underwent.

“The exhibit is just 37 years old and he has had many repairs over the years. The technology and the mechanics have just deteriorated and so it’s just not feasible any longer to keep the exhibit going,” Hnetka said.

While the museum will lose one attraction, Hnetka said Scotty is ready to take on some extra responsibilities.

“She has been training to take on entertaining the visitors for the RSM. She has been working hard to learn everything she can from Megamunch so she is going to take that role on,” Hnetka said.

“Stay tuned because we have lots of plans. In the next few months you’ll see some changes coming up in the Life Sciences Gallery and even bigger changes down the road in our Earth Sciences Gallery.”

Over the coming two months, the RSM is planning several activities to wish Megamunch farewell before his final day on Feb. 25. Those include:

• Sharing congratulatory messages and favourite stories on the Megamunch webpage;
• Dropping off messages in the mailbox in Megamunch’s display area; and
• A Megamunch retirement bash in mid-February.

The RSM will also be creating a tribute wall at the entrance to the auditorium.

“People will have some time to come and wish Megamunch well, write some notes, share some memories of them and then we encourage everyone to come to the retirement party,” Hnetka said.

“We really wanted to announce this now so that people who are in town for Christmas visiting friends and family, they do have a chance to say goodbye.”

The Megamunch display will be taken to the museum’s warehouse for safekeeping and will be kept as part of the collection.

(Government of Saskatchewan/Submitted)