Have You Ever Seen Colorado’s Colorful Dinosaurs?

Millions of years ago, dinosaurs roamed the region that's now Colorado. In modern times, people can find remnants of these Jurrasic creatures in fossil form at various locations throughout the Centennial State or by viewing excavated dinosaur discoveries on display at local museums.

Another reminder of Colorado's dinosaurs can be seen near Golden, where local artist, Pat Madison, created a colorful tribute to the prehistoric triceratops that once lived there.

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Madison began bringing his artistic dino-sized idea to life when the pandemic first hit last year. While most of us were baking bread loaves or learning to knit, Madison was busy constructing a family of dinosaurs in the driveway of his own home.

When a friend of Madison stopped by and saw the first triceratops in the making, he suggested that the artist create an entire dinosaur family and even offered to place them on his property.

A year later, and the technicolor dinosaur family is now fully complete and situated at their home on the property located at the southwest corner of Highway 93 and West 56th Avenue. The dino family includes a baby, two moms, and a dad. The dad is the first triceratops people see when driving south on Highway 93, and he is the most colorful of the bunch.

Because Madison was worried about wind potentially blowing the structures away, he took extra measures to secure them to the ground with rocks and guy wires.

The reason why the artist went with triceratops over a different kind of dinosaur, is because one of the very first triceratops fossils was found in Golden. Madison is happy that his colorful pieces of art honor the city's history, and can also be appreciated by people who drive by.

The Colorado artist has two other art pieces, "Return of the Cutthroat" and "Rotary Butterflies" currently on public display in Golden.