Dinah

Vernal, Utah, United States

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Animals and creatures

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Listed, not yet checked · Oct 2026

This Big Thing is recorded as still being here.

Dinah is a 40-foot pink fiberglass dinosaur on the east side of Vernal, Utah. YESCO built her in 1958 for George Millecam's Dine-A-Ville lodging; she has been city-owned since 1999 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2023.

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Dinah

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40.45597° N, 109.51153° W

FIELD GUIDE

The story

Drive into Vernal on Highway 40 and a candy-pink dinosaur with long eyelashes greets you, holding a sign that reads "Vernal: Utah's Dinosaur Land". Dinah is 40 feet tall, and in 2023 she became a National Register of Historic Places listing.

According to Utah Humanities, businessman George Millecam commissioned her from the YESCO Sign Company in 1958 for his Dine-A-Ville in downtown Vernal. She was built on a steel frame supporting 4,200 pounds of fiberglass, with mechanical eyes that could light up and roll around. Deseret News said in 1999 that Millecam hoped the dinosaur would lure visitors to nearby Dinosaur National Monument and to his lodging. The area's Chamber of Commerce later adopted her image to promote northeastern Utah. Utah Humanities adds that she was first a similar shade of orange rather than pink, and that between 1967 and 1970 Millecam commissioned seven dinosaurs across Vernal.

Dinah's original home did not last. In 1999 the Dine-A-Ville Motel was demolished, and the credit union taking its place decided she would not fit into its plans. It donated her to the city, and in late September crews with a crane cut her free from her pedestal and moved her to a small park, Deseret News reported. Utah Humanities describes the new site as the opposite end of town.

The city has kept her up since. In 2014 Utah Public Radio reported a $26,000 makeover, prompted by rusty metal insides and a deteriorating fiberglass shell. In November 2023 she was entered on the National Register as the Dine-A-Ville Dinosaur, and Vernal's city manager said the listing would not change how she is maintained.

Utah Humanities says many of the public dinosaurs Millecam built are dressed up and decorated for the holidays. Dinah stands beside the highway on the east side of town.

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WHAT TO EXPECT

A 40-foot roadside statue beside Highway 40 on the east side of Vernal, holding a sign reading 'Vernal: Utah's Dinosaur Land'. Utah Humanities (2024) says many of Vernal's public dinosaurs are decorated for holidays.

ACCESS

City-owned statue at the east end of Vernal, seen from Highway 40. Utah Humanities (2024) and Basin Now (2023) describe it as city-maintained. A roadside statue with no admission.

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Find another Big Thing nearby

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Stegosaurus (Dinosaur National Monument)

Jensen, Utah

A fiberglass Stegosaurus from Sinclair Oil's nine-dinosaur Dinoland at the 1964 to 1965 New York World's Fair is listed by Sinclair as being at Dinosaur National Monument, Jensen, Utah. The National Park Service places a stegosaurus statue outside the Quarry Visitor Center.

Animals and creatures

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17 km away

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