Yabba Dabba Do-over

Just because you’re millions of years old doesn’t mean you can’t still look good.
To that end, the Dino statue located just outside Buffalo Ridge Camp Resort on the west side of Custer is getting a makeover, thanks to property owner Custer Hospitality and Mike Dewsbury, the man doing the work to make Dino ready for primetime once more.
And while technically Dino is only multiple decades old and not millions of years old, he had still fallen into rough shape over the years as Flintstones Bedrock City morphed into Buffalo Ridge.
The reasons for that were many, not the least of which is how busy Custer Hospitality has been developing the resort, as well as required Property Improvement Plans at its hotels.
“It’s been on our capital improvements list for the last six years,” Custer Hospitality owner Mike Tennyson said of Dino’s rebuild. “It wasn’t at the top of the list. I guess you look at it more as a (public relations) thing than a revenue thing. It helps the community. Lot’s of people stop, even in the condition it’s in, and take pictures.”
The other reason not much has been done with Dino is that he is supposed to be extinct.
When Custer Hospitality bought Flintstones from the Speckles family in 2015, Warner Brothers, parent company of Hanna- Barbera, made it clear it would not be renewing its contract for the park and required Custer Hospitality to destroy all of the buildings, statutes, etc., at the park, as Flintstones branding had changed and the park was not American with the Disabilities Act compliant.
Custer Hospitality pitched to Warner Brothers the idea of putting the figurines, etc., into a museum at the Buffalo Ridge’s visitor center and allow free admission, but was rebuffed.
So, Custer Hospitality did as instructed, demolishing the last vestiges of the park (although the trademark stance was questioned because the statues, etc., had been created at the park and not sent by Warner Brothers), except for one thing, of course—Dino.
“Dino is iconic. There is no way I could have brought myself to do that,” Tennyson said. “It would have been very unpopular with my community, and even more unpopular with my family. That wasn’t a viable option for us.”
So, Dino remained. And, as Custer Hospitality COO Leah Scott puts it, Custer Hospitality was “drinking from a firehose” with all its projects, Dino decayed.
When Dino was originally built it was done with rebar with a diamond mesh wrapped around it, followed by being sprayed with gunite, a building material consisting of a mixture of cement, sand and water that is sprayed onto a mold.
The rebuild is being done with better and more advanced materials, with the hope of making sure Dino lasts until the next stone age with as little of maintenance as possible. A new paint job will complete the project.
Dino had received some paint from time-to-time over the years, but it was typically only on his belly after people took it upon themselves to gift him with a—shall we say phallic symbol—that was quickly met with a fresh coat of paint.
Custer Hospitality encourages locals and visitors to pose for a picture with Dino, but discourage people from “gendering” him, which of course, is vandalism. To that end, lighting is being considered for the 35-foot tall statue, and trail cameras will be installed to identify those who walk to him for the purpose of providing an extra appendage.
Yabba dabba don’t do it.
Of course, that’s if Dino remains Dino. Custer Hospitality is considering painting the dinosaur slightly different colors, adding some clothing to the statue, or making it female, all in the name of further distancing itself from any potential Trademark conflicts.
A naming contest for the dinosaur could be in the offing if that takes place, as all options are being considered for the finished product.
Scott said work on Dino will probably be wrapped up by Labor Day, and some sort of unveiling may take place.
From the stone age to modern times, Custer Hospitality is excited Dino is getting some much-needed TLC.
“I’m glad we can preserve it for our community and guests’ enjoyment,” Tennyson said.