Family-Friendly Dinosaur Drive-Thru Event Will Be in Las Cruces This Month

Las Cruces will be overrun by giant lizards this month. A trip to the Southern New Mexico State Fairgrounds on the last weekend in June will take dinosaur fans back to a time when giant reptiles roamed the earth.

Before making a stop at Sunland Park Mall at the beginning of July, the national touring exhibition Jurassic Empire is roaring into Las Cruces and transforming the fairgrounds parking lot into a prehistoric world for its first-ever Jurassic Dinosaur drive-thru event from June 25 to June 27.

The company describes the dino drive-through on its website as an all-new interactive exhibit that features “60 life size ultra-realistic dinosaurs in their natural habitat.”

[Writer's Note: "natural habitat"? I wasn't aware we had parking lots during the Mesozoic Era, but maybe I don't know my history all that well.]

The outdoor family event will be at the Southern New Mexico State Fairgrounds Friday, Saturday and Sunday, June 25, 26, 27. Tickets cost $59 to $95 per vehicle, depending on the day and number of occupants, and are spaced out in 2-hour time slot increments.

What to Know Before You Go

• Tickets sold online only at JurassicEmpire.com
• General Admission: $59 weekday/$69 weekend per car 1-7 persons , Cars with 8 -14 persons $95 weekend
• Friday, June 25: 2pm – 8pm
• Saturday, June 26: 10am – 8pm
• Sunday, June 27: 10am – 8pm

You can show up anytime within the time slot you select. In other words, if you choose 2pm-4pm you can drive up and drive through anytime within that timeframe. According to the event website, “the whole drive-thru takes anywhere from 20 minutes to more than 1 hour depending on how many cars show up at any given hour.”

How to Get There

The fairgrounds are about an hour drive from El Paso, depending on your starting point.