The Field Museum is all decked out for the holiday season, and there are even some first-time decorations this year.
Visitors will find some animals featured in Stanley Field Hall getting into the holiday spirit by wearing Santa Claus hats.
“Stanley Field Hall is always decorated beautifully,” said Bridgette Russell, the Field’s senior director of marketing communications, “so this year, we thought, ‘What else can we do to help create a unique holiday experience?’”
Three dinosaurs displays at the museum — SUE in the Flesh, Sobek the spinosaurus, Máximo the titanosaur — will be wearing the hats, along with a pterosaur and the quetzalcoatlus featured in the space.
Field’s Exhibitions Production Supervisor Gedi Jakovickas said SUE’s hat is the largest at 144 inches.
Near SUE and the quetzalcoatlus will be thrones for visitors to take photos in with the animals wearing their caps in the background. To celebrate the new decorations, visitors can get a free digital photo with SUE until Dec. 8.
Gedi Jakovickas, the exhibitions production supervisor at the Field Museum, fixes a large Santa Claus hat on the “SUE in the Flesh” display during a ceremonial hatting Friday at the Field Museum.
Visitors clap during a ceremonial hatting at the Field Museum, where a Santa Claus hat was placed on the “SUE in the Flesh” display Friday.
Crews fix the Santa Claus hat on the “SUE in the Flesh” display during a ceremonial hatting Friday at the Field Museum.
Dionna Roberson (right), a mount maker at the Field Museum, and Gedi Jakovickas, the exhibitions production supervisor, place a large Santa Claus hat on the “SUE in the Flesh” display during a ceremonial hatting Friday at the Field Museum.
Sobek the Spinosaurus, a replica, wears a Santa Claus hat Friday at the Field Museum.
Máximo, a replica of a titanosaur, wears a Santa Claus hat Friday at the Field Museum.
A choir sings beside the “SUE in the Flesh” display after a ceremonial hatting Friday at the Field Museum.
Sobek the Spinosaurus, a replica, wears a Santa Claus hat Friday at the Field Museum.
A pterosaur model, the Quetzalcoatlus, wears a Santa Claus hat Friday at the Field Museum Friday, Dec. 6, 2024.
From left: Máximo the titanosaur, a pterosaur, the Quetzalcoatlus and Sobek the Spinosaurus, wear Santa Claus hats Friday at the Field Museum.