Columbus Day means kids ages 12 and younger attend Jurassic Gardens at Volo Auto Museum for free

Children 12 and younger this Columbus Day can get in free to Volo Auto Museum’s indoor dinosaur park.

Admission to Jurassic Gardens – a new, permanent exhibit opened earlier this year – normally is $15.95 for people ages 5 and older, but on Monday, five children can be admitted for free with each paying adult.

Filled with more than three dozen animatronic and several static dinosaurs on display, as well as a dino-themed playground outside, Jurassic Gardens opened in mid-May after about a year spent transforming a former mercantile mall.

“We have built something truly special here,” museum director Brian Grams said in a statement. “With Columbus Day being a day off school, we wanted to show it off and encourage even more families to come and experience it.”

The Volo Auto Museum and Jurassic Gardens, 27582 Volo Village Road, are open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.

Combination tickets that permit entry to both Jurassic Gardens and the museum, as well as a second consecutive day’s entry free, are regularly $31.95 for adults and $24.95 for children ages 5 to 12. On Columbus Day, these tickets for children ages 5 to 12 will be available for $9. Children ages 4 and younger are free.

For information, visit volocars.com, find Volo Auto Museum or Jurassic Gardens on Facebook, or call 815-385-3644.