Field Station Dinosaurs Will Open At New North Jersey Home Saturday

Dinosaurs will invade North Jersey this weekend when Field Station Dinosaurs opens in Overpeck Park.

The grand opening is Saturday. The park will be open Saturday, Sunday and Memorial Day from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

More than 30 life-sized animatronic dinosaurs will be scattered throughout 14 acres of land in the Henry Hoebel section of the park in Leonia. A more permanent, 35-acre space is being designed in the Teaneck section across from the Glenpointe Hotel.

The park used to be in Secaucus until it lost its lease on the property to make room for a new high school campus.

"It was very hard to lose our lease a year early, but we were very lucky and we made a lot of friends," said Executive Director Guy Gsell. "A lot of teachers relied on us and they wrote letters and that got the attention of Bergen County James Tedesco."

Park officials had considered moving the park to Kansas, before the Overpeck move was planned. The move was announced last month.

"Every day we have families drive into the parking lot everyday hoping to get a peek at what we have," Gsell said. "It feels like home already."

The park will be open Saturdays and Sundays only through June 26 and Tuesday through Sunday June 28 through Sept. 5. It will also be open Labor Day. The park is expected to employ 120 people.

The skin and outer shell of a 90-foot long dinosaur from the park burned to the ground after it caught fire earlier this month. A welder was working nearby and a spark set the fire off.

Related: Fire Destroys 90-Foot-Long Foam Dinosaur In Overpeck Park

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PHOTO: Kids visit with the Tyrannosaurus Rex from Field Station Dinosaurs.